


Agape of the Bleeding Dove

by NuttersAscend



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Dysfunctional Family, Gen, Mystery, Psychological Horror, Yandere
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-06
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:09:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 42,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24037906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NuttersAscend/pseuds/NuttersAscend
Summary: Tsuna as the next successor of the Vongola lineage was a choice for a brighter future. But love goodwill and mercy come in all sorts of forms. If anything goes for the above three, just how much of the future decimo can the Vongola accept? (Twisted 10th generation, Yanderes everywhere).
Comments: 21
Kudos: 106





	1. Belladonna: A peaceful and picturesque rest

**Author's Note:**

> To those who read my other works, they're gonna be in hiatus. It's got a lot of plot holes and inconsistencies and I've lost interest in em.
> 
> I'm going to be focussing on this story to its very end for once. One at a time, I guess.
> 
> Hope you like the story. Let me know what you think.
> 
> Now, onwards

An immaculately dressed man sat with a slight slouch in the headquarters of the Vongola, Italy. The man had an aura of strength despite his age but also had a tired look from the recent mayhem brought from his adopted son's actions. The famiglia's stance regarding the succession along with the vehement denial of the candidates from the lad's side created a faction war that pressured the boss from both directions. The Vongola lineage had both their hands drenched in blood but still insisted on the tradition of their blood being linked for generations to come.

On his desk were ghastly photos of his other sons. The only difference between the victims and the murders was blood, bonds linked by the very thing running through his veins.

'It's as if it evoked conflict by its mere presence… The past that we can never escape from. The chains that fester from being a Vongola. Even though, those rings would never accept Xanxus…

Why did it come to this?'

On one hand, it was the main branch, the external advisor, and the supporting famiglias who had mixed roles in the family and were powerful in the overall sense. On the other was the assassination squad with stealth and firepower. On top of that, the boss Nono was placed between a rock and a hard place where he was forced to seal his cherished son who went on a murder spree eliminating candidates left and right to make his stand. Nono lamented.

'Is it truly futile? Are the Vongola bosses destined to dye Vongola in blood? Can the Vongola Primo's vision never come true?'

At this time, the room's door opened wide open to reveal a blond-haired, middle-aged man- the CEDEF, the external advisor's head, The young lion – Sawada Iemitsu. He surprisingly lacked the usual cheer he carried himself with and was instead partially lost in thought. The workaholic somberly spoke,

"Nono. I'm going to take a flight back to Namimori. Something urgent came up." There was no prattle or pleasantries brought up.

The boss tensed up. 'His son does have a tie to the Vongola. It can't be. The Varia shouldn't have gotten intel about my plans on the succession… Their boss was frozen into silence by my interference. It's too early for them to play a move and they wouldn't use Xanxus as bait… '

"Calm down, Iemitsu. Explain the circumstances. I can't help if I don't know the situation."

"…It's Nana. She's been reported as dead. I've had the information investigated but her circumstances are unusual. What's even stranger is that Tsunayoshi was left unharmed and unaware. It's not an impulse crime, but it's too unusual to be an accident." The advisor was so tense that he didn't bring up the usual nicknames he used for his beloved family.

He came forward and placed photos onto the boss's desk. It was beautiful, yet in bad taste and fit perfectly with the other grisly photos of his son's death – although they badly contrasted against the classy look of the room they were occupying. The recent photo addition on the photo album file seemed to be that of a youthful lady who slept peacefully amidst a bed of bell-shaped, magenta flowers. They were belladonnas, the poisonous nightshade.

It surely was made with a malicious taste. The lady who rest in ignorance right to her very death, surrounded by danger – the very threats that Iemitsu protected them from in the shadows. The next photo was that of a funeral, with the son looking on the proceedings with a blank face.

'I do feel sorry for the boy. Tsunayoshi had been doing fairly well until we had to seal his flames. It might have affected him quite a bit, but it was inevitable if he were to remain a civilian. Although, circumstances have changed. Reborn did report to me about the results of the preliminary investigation into his current lifestyle. Seems like the boy's life has been bad luck one after the other. But judging by this calm demeanor, maybe those struggles could have assisted in his development.

If it's Reborn, he could mold the lad into what Vongola needs – if that innocence doesn't get tainted. That hitman has had previous success with the Cavallone famiglia and that was judged as a hopeless case.'

Iemitsu continued, "I've acquired the autopsy report. It seems like she's been exposed to the poison for a long time. Specifically, it's the same poison as those she's been buried with. The traces go for a quarter of a year at a minimum. Yet, there have been no witnesses or statements about any changes of her behavior from the neighbors.

On top of that, Tsunayoshi seemed to have been fed information that I'm deceased leading to the removal of my name from the living family registry. It seems like whoever planned this intricate plan wanted to remove the chance of my involvement, in this case, to make it tight. They even took advantage of the fact that I've been unable to visit them for years on end.

Belladonnas are fairly rare in Namimori. Hibari Kyoya seems to have taken measures against anything that threatens its safety. And yet, it's found commonplace in the rooms that Nana frequently uses. I doubt that my son knows of its effects, but he's been tricked into supplying them."

It was then that the pretty picture took on another tone, one mocking the CEDEF leader's circumstances, taunting the other by placing the murder weapon in plain sight. It was as if the peaceful expression on the woman's face was naught but a terrible lie.

"Iemitsu, you shouldn't go back to Namimori. This plan has been executed with suspiciously perfect timing. You know the circumstances that the family is currently in. To find a reason to excuse you from the scene when you'd normally never do… That and this seems like an invitation for a trap. It might be the work from the rival famiglias."

'It's twisted, but the perpetrators have made a great opportunity for themselves. But this is bad. Are there insiders that are leaking our state. This mess should have been hidden from outsiders. I can't even deploy the Varia to investigate this case and Iemitsu's too emotional to think straight right now. It'd only increase the workload and make the situation worse if we start doubting each other now.'

"But Nono-"

"I'm not saying to let this go. Actually, I've been making plans for the succession issue. If we plan this well, we could kill two birds with one stone.

Iemitsu, I've been thinking of making Tsunayoshi the immediate candidate for the Vongola."

It was like a death sentence for the man, given the circumstances. Iemitsu looked like he had a lot to say, but seemed to understand where Nono was going with this.

"I'm thinking of making Reborn train the lad. It could double as a bodyguard of sorts against the instigator of Nana's death and the Varia – if Reborn takes up the role of the child's tutor. He's been soft on his disciples, so if that was the case, he'd endeavor to prevent Tsunayoshi's death.

On top of that, I'm thinking of directly contracting Gokudera Hayato to double as his guardian and his companion. The boy is brash but has an intense longing to fit in. He's intelligent too, so could look into this case on the side. His personal involvement could shed light and allow us to gain intel. The two could act as foils for each other. Personally, employing him for this could make him prefer our stance rather than any instructions Reborn would give him too. That, and the boy of the same age as Tsunayoshi so he could stick closer to his side."

"But Nono, in that case, I could plant Basil by his side."

Nono had a look of incredulity at that suggestion. Who knows what preconceptions Basil had about Japan given how seriously the boy had gulped down the jokes Iemitsu fed him? He was incredibly naïve, even more so than Gokudera. But the boy was skilled…

"… No. It may catch the eye of the Varia. Instead, I'd like him to tail the Varia. I've got a bad feeling that they might eventually end up in Namimori. In the worst case, I'd like him to assist Tsunayoshi in dealing with it.

I'd like to reduce the amount of personnel moving around your son for now, especially given the stage. Nana's death has brought complications in this situation."

Nono understood why Iemitsu was so somber in this case. It was probably that he had the same thoughts as he did and so the young lion decided to deal with the problem heads on, given the current urgency. The boss stared longingly at his ever-diminishing supply of aspirin as his headaches only grew in number and sighed heavily.

Just what had happened in Namimori?

Who was the culprit?

What was their purpose?

* * *

In Namimori, A black-haired youth with an intense look focused on the corpse of the mother of the weakest herbivore who was the easiest target in his middle school. There were no bruises, no fingerprints. The body before his eyes were unblemished and adorned by the fresh flowers that permeated the room. It smelled slightly sweet but brought about a sense of nausea making it baffling how someone would happily live amongst these.

It wasn't like she was unaffected by the nightshades. Her throat was inflamed due to constant vomiting and there were signs of suffocation along with possible light-headedness. Yet the ground floor of the house stunk of belladonnas. It was as if their perfume and potpourri were being manufactured at the site. The flowers invaded across their backyard, proliferating like weeds.

Kusakabe handed out a mask to prevent Hibari from getting adversely affected. The latter moved his eyes towards the top floor where the brunette holed himself into. The kitchen and the living room looked like it was barely occupied and collected dust around the corners. It seems like Sawada Tsunayoshi had taken his meals in his room. But to be so ignorant that he wouldn't have noticed the state of his mother…

When they had been first notified of the death, Hibari remembered the quiet voice that informed them in a matter of fact tone about the other's death. They had sent a squad to retrieve the body and the group thought that they would need cleaners to remove any stains or stench, given that it would have gone into the late stages of rigor mortis. The information was relayed after two days of her supposed death. Kusakabe had been shocked at the absentmindedness of the brunette. Hibari simply thought that it ran in their family given how airheaded Sawada Nana seemed.

The former delinquent had noted how the brunette might have habits of isolating himself due to the daily bullying, but it was distasteful for the prefect who clicked his tongue at how vulnerable the brunette made himself out to be. Even though Hibari took on the role of the protector of Namimori, he wasn't interested in the activities that the weak engaged themselves in to comfort themselves. The crowding that came with some of the bullyings did tic him off, but he could easily take off that.

Kusakabe looked at the prefect and spoke again. "The flowers that covered her body have Sawada's fingerprints but that's the case for all of them in this house. He might not have notified us because of he was either busy covering her body with these flowers, or that he did this in the time between the time he noticed her body and called us and before we arrived at the scene. It could be a way of him grieving for the loss, but it is truly strange.

He even insisted on using those flowers for the funeral processions. Were nightshades Mrs. Nana's favorite flowers? But still, to think that it would be the eventual cause of her death- it seems like a bad joke.

In fact, both his parents have rather odd deaths. Mr. Sawada Iemitsu had sent a postcard saying that he went and became a 'star'… and now, Mrs. Sawada Nana… What do you think, Kyo-san?"

Hibari disregarded the nonsensical hypothesis. He remembered all the details of the citizens under his jurisdiction. The nightshades only took the stage in these households less than half a year ago. His face took a look of utter viciousness at the gall of someone to try this on his domain. The nature of belladonnas weren't things that people generally knew about, but one of the regular contacts of Sawada Tsunayoshi had a look of familiarity when looking at those flowers. It was obvious with how the other instantly turned pale at the sight of it. But surprisingly, there was a look of confusion on it.

His eyes fell on a dusty photo on the living room that faced down, hiding its contents. His hands revealed its contents, one of a picture of the three of them. Sawada Nana must have done this given how untouched it had been. But given her cheerful nature, it was a mystery why she would have had bitter emotions about a family picture. The postcard mentioning the status of the husband had been torn into pieces and covered in traces of the lady's fingerprints. It wasn't thrown away and regularly touched… but it was found in a dusty cupboard below the photograph. She must have felt strongly about that news, given how the neighbors had also mentioned how the couple was all over each other.

She had an incompetent son and was surrounded by the neighborhood gossip. She didn't have regular contact with the rest of her family. It would have been easy to imagine the state of her repressed emotions. But suicide could be ruled out, given the prolonged nature of the death. Could she have been coping with her mental pain by substituting it with a more tangible physical pain? Or could it be that the light-headedness that came with the exposure to belladonnas made her more comfortable with her situation- like she longed to go back to her state of ignorance? That she wouldn't find this form of coping as distasteful as other forms of addiction?

But what was the source of this bad news? Given Sawada Nana's disposition, she wouldn't have been able to get a clue about her actual situation. Hibari Kyoya walked out of the house to pursue a possible lead for that question accompanied by a slightly flustered Kusakabe Tetsuya.

Thus, they found themselves facing Irie Shoichi, a boy around the age of the brunette who was from another school. He was an aspiring musician who put his eggs in the wrong basket, despite his analytical talents. It seemed like the two met during an incident where the redhead was being bullied and they bonded upon their shared misfortune. Hibari thought it was quite a pathetic tale, but it seems that the bond allowed the prefect to gain more insight into the case.

Irie Shoichi looked at the duo like a deer caught in headlights as his body trembled in fear at the notoriety of the black-haired teen who was called as the demon of Namimori. At the pointed look of the demon, Irie immediately knew what this was about.

"I don't know anything about Sawada's mother! I swear!"

"Belladonnas."

"How was I supposed to know that Sawada would keep those flowers along given what happened-" and he shut his mouth immediately for that unfortunate slip.

Kusakabe seeing that Hibari was going to threaten the information out with force as he brought his tonfas out, intervened immediately noticing that the already faint teen would definitely be out of commission if he watched and waited.

"Irie-san, what's your relationship with Sawada-san?"

"Eh? We're friends."

"How did you know about the nightshades? I've heard that you've been more interested in developing your musical skills as opposed to learning about botany?"

Irie frowned at the proficiency of Hibari's information network. Kusakabe and the former delinquents had eyes and ears everywhere but knowing how blatantly his privacy could be violated left cold sweat down his body. The glint of the tonfas brandished by Hibari urged the answers out of the boy.

"T-Tsuna looked for me. He told me about his mom suddenly having headaches and vomiting… so I went over to his place to identify the source and it turned out to be those belladonnas. I looked up information about the flowers in the library and the internet and told him about it. I-It was the only extra item added into their routine after all…

It was just surprising that they still stayed after those. T-Tsuna also didn't tell me about anything bad going on with her from then on…"

Seeing the look of suspicion in Hibari's eyes, he immediately added on.

"I don't think it's what you're thinking about H-Hibari-san. His mom might have loved the flowers enough to keep using them regardless of Tsuna's warnings. She must have underestimated its potency."

"Sawada Tsunayoshi's fingerprints were found on them."

"Eeep! I mean, both of them might have underestimated it. Tsuna's weak against his mom after all. He could have been gathering them to make her happy!"

Sawada Tsunayoshi did not have the ability to pull off an intricate plan orchestrating someone's death like this. What would the motive to kill his own mother be?

"What are you hiding, herbivore?" he inched closer, pressing the weapon close to the redhead's neck. Irie gulped.

"Why are you protecting that weak herbivore?"

His target's eyes were swimming but were it because he was nervous about revealing the secret or just because he was intimidated.

"If you're so convinced of your friend's innocence, come clean." He dared the other.

"T-Tsuna- he even came to me to get equipment and herbicide to cut off the plants. He definitely intended on cutting off supply for those flowers!"

Hibari screwed his eyebrows together. Sawada Tsunayoshi, aka Dame-Tsuna was a child who failed miserably in his physical activities and studies. He was renowned for his clumsiness and a general lack of dexterity.

"When?"

"M-maybe around two months ago?"

From the disciplinary committee, there were logs of Irie and Sawada going to his house around 3 months ago. It could be that the brunette was outsourcing the flowers for a month. Then how did those nightshades cover their backyard?

Kusakabe looked at Irie in incredulity.

"Did you not visit Sawada-san since then? Their house grows a lot of nightshades. They're healthy for supposedly being poisoned. They're not even as durable as actual weeds."

"It seems like you won't spit it out unless your room's ransacked inside and out."

Irie paled even further at the possible shakedown.

"I'm not lying about the equipment. It's missing from my tool shed. You can see it with your own eyes. They work. I've tested for their effectivity!"

Kusakabe didn't miss the gleam in the disciplinary committee head's eyes. He understood immediately what the other was getting at.

"…Were you growing those nightshades for those experiments?"

"Not anymore. I got rid of them once I finished checking. They take up too much space."

This was possibly how Tsunayoshi was able to grow those plants in his backyard. He could have stopped the growth of those plants and maybe that disrupted the 'peace' in Nana's life. And when she missed it, he bolstered her dependence with relapse by growing it on his end.

Kusakabe expected Hibari's mood to dip with the information, but surprisingly, the other seemed to be intrigued at the turn of events the interrogation brought them. Hibari thought over that torn postcard and the hidden photograph. The tactic served as a great distraction for her.

A week later, Kusakabe looked at Hibari who told him to take a recording of the funeral of Nana Sawada. He listened in fascination at Sawada Tsunayoshi's words. The brunette mentioned that he chose those flowers to allow her to rest in peace even in her afterlife.

It was a truly fascinating notion.

Sawada Iemitsu, even before his death was a wayward man and an absentee father/husband. His background is shady and he was one of the sources of misfortune in both of their lives. Even in his 'death', he brought misery to the woman who waited for him. Even if she doesn't recognize it.

Sawada Tsunayoshi tried to make her face reality to come to terms with Iemitsu's death to lighten her burdens. But the truth unveiled was too much for Sawada Nana. Therefore, he decided to help her escape back to her fantasies using deceptively beautiful gifts and decorations. And even until her very death and beyond, he kept at it and erased Iemitsu's presence from the person who pined for his love.

Those Belladonnas were to be her saving grace, granting mercy to her struggles – at least according to Tsunayoshi.

It seems like he was not quite what he seems to be. He's definitely not a herbivore.

Hibari Kyoya, highly amused, sported a shark's grin.


	2. Resonance and Dissonance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there  
> Hope you enjoy the chappie. Lemme know of your opinions or views :D

A teen having silver hair took a long drag while standing outside Namimori. He could feel the slight heaviness that came with jet lag having taken a flight to Japan on short notice. Vongola was in a rather sticky situation if they wanted him to cooperate with the number one hitman while acting independently and collecting information.

'Sawada Tsunayoshi, huh? Going by his profile, Reborn-san would have to summon the philosopher's stone to change trash into gold to make him the next candidate. Vongola's desperate to want someone that pathetic.'

His green eyes were like a swamp when he remembered the sneering looks of those who called him a nuisance. Those eyes that looked down on him, screaming that he'd never be good enough.

'And yet, why is _Vongola_ giving that guy a free pass.'

It was a free pass that he'd be willing to crawl in the mud chopping all his limbs and donating all his organs to be given that same chance. It was what he'd been honing himself for, to be useful and in turn, be given a place of stand-in for temporary shelter – a moment of respite. He'd been feeling so jittery, like there were maggots crawling on every inch of his skin, burrowing itself in.

'It seems like things have been tampered with. The information the Young Lion gave is almost obsolete. There's nobody in the casket. I can't even do some post-mortem investigation.

Tch. I even came here early to do just that. Did the culprit hide the corpse?'

He walked to the house of the only other person affiliated with the victim – indirectly though. The garbage disposal had a scent, like the smell that draped like perfume around his sister.

'Seems like the kid's got quite the tie to the case.'

At that moment the door slammed open as a frightened redhead screeched at him.

"What do you guys want now?! I already told you I don't want to join. My stomach's been hurting me for these days… Even though I just want to play music, whyyy me?" and if on cue his knees buckled over and he plead as he clutched his stomach.

"At least, at least give me something easier to do. I'm definitely not suited for onsite work. Please, I beg youuuu"

Gokudera raised his eyebrow at the melodrama and growled. "Now what the fuck are you going on about?"

"Eep. You're not one of them? S-sorry- You kind of look right for the part, so I just-"

"Stop blathering about and get to the point." He said as he propped the sniveling boy up by the collar, forcing their eyes to meet.

"You've got such a weak spine despite being an accomplice in poisoning your pal's mother to death."

"W-what? Not again. Another one?! I don't even know how things went that far. Yet you guys arbitrarily try to pin it on me and then selfishly blackmail me to do all sorts of fishy things. The whole experiment's been in the trash for half a month now. Yet the place stinks of those blasted flowers.

My mom's telling me that the whole thing's a bad omen – both my involvement and the sweet stink that's infesting the house!

I swear, it's been a curse ever since I worked on them. I was just trying to help a friend out…" saying that Irie slouched as his voice petered out.

"Fishy things?"

"Hibari-san's making me go around those places and destroying things related to those flowers like the shrub the initial sample came from. It's kinda cathartic but it's also really scary to actually do it. It's almost like an induction ceremony…" he frowned and then muttered "Why're you even interested in this. You… seem new here" as he looked at the suitcase trailing behind the teen.

Gokudera ignored the question and spoke, "What? Has he made you go grave robbing?"

"What? That's disgusting. Who'd do such a thing- wait. It can't be, can it? It's one thing after another…" Irie paled rapidly and spoke in rapid-fire- "How did that happen? Should we call the police? No, Hibari's having way too much fun with the situation to have it resolved the correct way…

How's Tsuna? Does he know about it? The whole thing must be hitting him hard. He doesn't seem to be accepting the situation, much less coping with it-"

'Seems like this guy's not an idiot. Seems like I've got a usable hand.'

"I've not found out where the body's gone. I've come here to investigate the situation. How much does Hibari care about keeping this in wraps? You're his dog, you must at least know something about his stance."

Irie looked like he'd give anything to be able to refute that statement. Looking like he'd swallowed a bitter pill, he said-

"Do you want me to cooperate? …I'm willing to consider if your purpose isn't to harm Tsuna. I…'ve already done some great disservice to him. This whole thing might as well be my fault. It's one of the reasons why I'm going along with Hibari's each and every whim. That guy… seems convinced that Tsuna was the one who killed his mother. It's… disgusting. Tsuna's not that kind of guy. Right now, he seems content on blackmailing me and using me as a gopher, but it's better than him targeting Tsuna.

If you knew how much Tsuna and his mother meant to each other… That's why it's cruel that he's convinced about it. Those flowers, they're still in his home. It might be a memento, but given reality, it's even sadder. That's why he doesn't need any more painful things.

…What are you intending to do with the investigation…?" it was the first sign of courage that Gokudera had seen in Irie.

"I don't care if you or he cry over revealing everything. If he's to make it, he'll accept everything and more. It won't do otherwise" Irie's defensiveness for his friend, his insistence on making the brat look like an angel was like making Gokudera face the version of him that got desperate trying to justify and validate himself to follow a person. That was him forcing himself to see his would-be boss that he needed approval from in rose-tinted glasses. Everything his boss said was true, it had to be his fault for not measuring up. Otherwise why else would he have that string of rejections trailing after him? The problem must be in himself. Even though in the end, he was just a convenient tool that they could just use and throw.

'He won't be Vongola Decimo if I'd have anything to do with it if he can't do that much.'

Irie glowered at him.

"Is this what this is going to be then? I concoct the poison and made him feed his mother that like a quack, Hibari's going to guilt trip and gaslight him into thinking he's the mastermind and you're going to make him a bonafide killer. Why don't you go ahead and make him a mafia boss then?"

"You've hit it close. That guy's the dog of the Mafia. He's come here sniffing around for their bigshot's wife's murderer. As expected, he's got quite the nose since he found this place." The newcomer, Hibari cooly taunted.

Gokudera clicked his tongue at the way the infamous demon of Namimori exacerbated the situation. It was like all the negotiations were off the table. Irie looked aghast.

"W-why're you here then? What are you planning?"

"Not interested. Don't loiter around where you don't belong." Hibari dispassionately declared, moving in for the kill. Irie scrambled for the door, running to safety – but not before a look of suspicion at the bomber.

It was a treatment the silverette had long become familiar with. But it didn't make things any better. With fury rising, he bellowed.

"Keep your trap shut or I'll blow you up into smithereens."

Bombs flew right in front of Hibari who easily deflected them with his tonfas. He seemed utterly disinterested at the person in front of him like he wasn't even a challenge. It was infuriating at how that glance overlapped with countless others in his past. A tonfa smacked right into his head, sweeping him off his feet as explosions rung in the background. He felt like he got a concussion as a distinct smell of blood wafted across.

Unwilling to go down and jeopardize his mission, he reached for the suitcase and threw it right at the other. The suitcase made a bang as it punctured as the tonfa pierced right through it with the monstrous strength. It seemed like the rumors were right on the money.

Gokudera grunted as he rolled over the side as the luggage slammed at his silhouette making slight cracks on the wall. When he tried to sweep his feet to make the demon fall, the other's foot stomped right on top of his ankle. Seeing the green-eyed boy hiss, Hibari said.

"Tell Iemitsu that if he wants to badly know the truth, he should come and find it himself instead of making others do his dirty laundry. After all, look at how much his hired hands are failing."

Gokudera saw red and he threw the explosives again, not caring about their proximity.

The tonfas swatted them aside like they were flies. "Pathetic." was the disappointed Hibari's last sentence as he walked away, no longer interested in playing around.

The bomber grit his teeth as he tried to get up, but stumbled at the sharp pain. He fell on all fours on to the dirt and clenched his fists as they crushed the mud in his palms. The surroundings almost looked like disaster swept by. The bombs he had flung had created rubble in the places they were flung onto and rebar jutted out like broken bones. The tree that was one of its unfortunate victims had fire slowly covering it as sparks flew in the air. His luggage was ruined, making his settlement in the town even more difficult.

He pushed against the ground forcing himself to stand, against the sting at his ankles, the dizziness, and headache. His eyes roved towards the patch of grass – the nettle leaves he intended to trip that asshole into. Leaving the lingering regret behind, he hobbled aimlessly as restlessness settled in, his pride in shambles.

It couldn't end like this when he hasn't even started. When he couldn't even prove himself useful. It couldn't be all over.

As he got lost in thoughts, he found that his feet had led him to the Sawada household. His cheeks burned in shame as he remembered that he truly looked like a stray dog, covered in dirt and injuries. He stood in silence until a loud clatter came from upstairs.

* * *

"Get out of your room already, Dame-Tsuna. It's rude to not even greet your new home tutor."

It was a child's voice. Followed by that voice, a loud bang sounded as a brunette was flung out of the window.

"You're getting out one way or the other. It's not healthy to coop yourself in one room. It doesn't befit the next Vongola boss." A babywearing a fedora and a well-fitted suit with a large chameleon as a shrug and a yellow pacifier peered down at the teen.

The brunette seemed to be struggling to not fall down from the branch of the tree. Finally, he scrambled on top of the fragile branch, looking like a stuck cat.

"U-um, if you wouldn't mind, could you help me get down?"

"Dame-Tsuna, you won't grow until you start solving your own problems."

"Oh shut up. This is your fault in the first place, Reborn!"

Gokudera scowled as stepped forward to retort when the scent of those blasted flowers appeared. He then looked slightly disturbed as he shut his mouth. Tsuna took the approach as compliance as he took a freefall, not helping the bomber's situation.

"What the-?! Why the hell did you do that, you little brat! Gah. It hurts all over."

Tsuna's panic only worsened the situation as he applied pressure right into his wound as he struggled to get up. Seeing the other wince in pain, the flustered brunette hoisted him up with a shoulder and with a worryingly unsteady gait moved towards the door, before falling forward and into the house.

The house felt like it was drenched with perfume, and Gokudera felt like he was surrounded by his sister. The interior was dusty and unoccupied. It looked abandoned as the slight smell of food rotting wafted across.

It was a particularly nasty murder attempt. Feeling indignant, Gokudera tried to leave the slaughterhouse immediately.

"Wait. We've got to bandage you up properly-"

"Are you going to kill me or help me?! Choose one!"

"Oh sorry. Mom loved the smell, but I understand that it's not for everyone. Even I couldn't handle it because of how overwhelming it can be. Stay at the doorstep, I'll come down with the bandages."

Gokudera pinched his nose bridge in exasperation. Seeing Reborn come down, he asked.

"Are you not going to tell him?"

"A mafia boss can't be so ignorant. He's got to find it out for himself. I'll keep him stuck here until inspiration flashes."

"Why do I feel like he's going to die before that…?"

"It'll be the exposure that'll tiptoe the barrier between life and death. I'll keep him alive. It'll even help him in gaining poison resistance."

"He seems like a softie."

"He'll have to face reality. It's both for him and for Vongola. The war for succession is brutal and those flowers growing out his eyes aren't going to help."

It seems like Reborn already told Sawada Tsunayoshi about Xanxus. Judging by the snide comment seems like the response he got was one full of airheadedness – one they could expect from the late Sawada Nana.

"I see you've already gotten into a shuffle with Hibari Kyoya. Seems like he's a promising candidate."

Gokudera grimaced as he looked over his telling bruises, but he knew that he'd have to suck it up and ask because of the beat-up. He had wanted to impress Reborn and Vongola from the investigation, but his current self would drag things out as compared to his usual pace. The tampering was already done when he reached here, so maybe, Reborn would have better information.

"Reborn-san, what happened to Sawada Nana's body?"

Reborn tilted his fedora and answered in a dark tone – "It's already plant fertilizer, burnt and buried as nourishment in the backyard."

It was at that moment that Gokudera remembered that the garden looked like it's been disturbed recently. It was subtle but the color of the soil was funny looking like it was mixed with ash.

'To consume poison or be consumed by poison…'

A horrible guess popped up in his head, thus he whispered.

"…Is it that Hibari bastard."

Seeing Reborn so still confirmed it. Gokudera roared, as his situation overlapped, so utterly furious.

"Why the fuck is he a candidate?! That sick bastard! I bet he just casually waltzed over here, took an urn with her remains, and mixed it with the soil!

The nerve of that guy. He even totaled my luggage to force my leave without finding a place to stay-"

Reborn remained silent.

At this moment, Tsuna chose to reappear as he dashed forward for the first aid and took a nosedive across the staircase. The medical kit broke open and scattered the items in mid-air.

The highly-strung bomber instinctively threw a bomb at the flying items, blowing them up in an instant. The murky air instantly cleared up.

Reborn pouted at the missed training opportunity.

The brunette looked at the tarnished medical supplies and huffed a sigh of disappointment. Gokudera braced himself for reproach, but the other just gave a lop-sided smile of self-deprecation and said.

"Ah, well it doesn't matter if there are no proper tools. I had to improvise sometimes, so it's not like there's no solution."

The teen took a towel and ice from the freezer and carefully wrapped it around the silverette's ankle. He then took a damped cloth and carefully cleaned the wounds, before taking stuffed cotton from his pillow and taping it with duct tape. He finally took some pain killers from the bathroom near the living room and passed it to the bomber with a glass of water.

It was pretty meticulous and detailed for a person who tripped over thin air.

"Picked some skills from being useless all the time?"

"Well, my close friends are pretty rough, so I got to at least this much to keep up with them."

It was denial. The brunette in front of him wasn't acknowledging that he was being bullied.

"Oh? Then you must love that your best friends use you as their personal wallet, beat you into pulp, humiliate you at very chance they get, take a dig at you to make themselves feel better, and feel utter glee at the utter doormat you can be."

"Well, friendships involve a little sacrifice. We've been together thick and thin."

It was like the weak kid in front of him was taunting that at least he was given the choice of belonging somewhere, even if it was at the cost of being treated like shit.

"Though, I think the scale of sacrifice is skewed to your side."

"Well, it's not anything that calculated that every action should be measured and balanced."

"You honestly can't be satisfied being in pain all the time, can you?"

"Well, dad always told me that men bond with their fists. Besides, a little pain and suffering won't kill me. It'll even build character."

"Don't you feel a sense of unnaturalness at being treated that way?"

"My mom didn't tell me anything. No one has said anything about it until now. So it should be normal."

"It's not like you don't know what love and affection is. Didn't your mother shower you with plenty of it?"

"I'm very grateful for her… I was still trying to make up for my various flaws. I want the world for her, but what I tried to do has only somewhat worked. It seems like the other part hasn't been showing results… Well, I've always been incompetent, ahaha..."

'Is he talking about the flowers?

But this guy is deeply in denial that I understand what Reborn-san and Irie were talking about. Honestly speaking it pisses me. It's like seeing a mirror image.'

Gokudera's eyes softened as he looked at the family photo.

"…Say, what d'you think of staying here?"

The bomber's emerald eyes glittered as they narrowed in suspicion.

"Actually, I kind of overhead what you were saying to Reborn. Hibari-san… how do you say this- is akin to a natural disaster in the worst-case or an unavoidable phenomenon in the best case."

"What? Do you feel pity for me? Even though, you're Dame-Tsuna?"

"No. You've been so kind to me -even worrying about me, so I wanted to help out too."

'He's like a chick imprinting on the first-person being nice to him. Even though I've not, even remotely, being -ugh- nice to him.

He's probably just being vulnerable right now. His only support has died, so it's no blaming him. I was… in a similar place when Lavina was murdered.'

It was like seeing a past him. The child who longed for the person he didn't know was his mother, with her ending up dead due to their poisonous family background. Ironically, he sought the attention of the very being that led to her death and surrounded himself with them.

Maybe that was why he was being soft right now. Because he wanted to make things right with his younger self.

"I think we're similar, you and I. That's why it'd be great if you live here."

But ultimately, that was like them licking each other's wounds.

"If you recognize that, you should also move forward. How long do you think you can drag this for?" but those emerald eyes weren't looking at the brunette in front of him.

"But there's no need to. I want this house to be a place where she can return to, and where all she wished for can occur. The flowers and its aroma will guide her here. Recently, I can even more strongly believe that she could always come back here." It was words that felt like it was said before, but still, it's ideal entranced the bomber.

Reborn scowled at that sentence as he slightly shook his head. But it was unnoticed by the two that were engrossed in the conversation.

"…In that case, wouldn't it be better if I'm not there? I didn't belong in this little museum exhibit. How can you preserve time by bringing change into it."

"I don't want to stop time in particular. I want to make a future where we can live together happily for eternity. Her presence is in this house like she had never died – she looked so peaceful, so happy, that she couldn't have possibly left. So, I'll keep her company until the very end."

Gokudera understood it. He knew the truth. He knew why Reborn could still choose Hibari as a candidate because he was probably the other person who Tsuna talked to regarding the case.

It was honestly beautiful, the way Tsuna weaved this story. The way Tsuna loved was something Gokudera longed for – the acceptance, the need to belong, the wish to be cherished, the love that twisted over the darker notions of envy, hatred, or greed. It was an encompassing love that would snugly cover him amidst the pitch-black creep of the Mafia, one that wouldn't stop even for death.

The handmade bandages shielded his wounds from the world. They wouldn't fester, aggravated from exposure. The cotton, softly touched his skin as they comforted him, treating him like a treasure. He had been battered and bruised, treated like an intruder wherever he went. But the invitation, the warmth from the person in front of him in this cozy place was a temptation too strong for Hayato. Even more so, this person in front of him had no limits to keep his favorite to himself - he'd never be second fiddle or a sacrificial pawn.

If Hibari was the one who buried Nana Sawada here, maybe the lure Tsuna kept out was for Iemitsu. Unfortunately, that man was a wayward bird. If Tsuna wished for it, it could be done. After all, no bird could fly without wings. If nothing, Sawada Nana might have wanted to bind herself tightly to Iemitsu to not let him leave and the flowerbed wouldn't refuse food.


	3. An acknowledgement of friendship

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heya, looks like inspiration struck a bit quicker for this one.  
> Hope you enjoy the story. How was it for you?

Yamamoto Takeshi’s childhood was mostly filled with cheer and merriment. When he was enrolled in Namimori elementary, his bright smile that accompanied his curious, sparkling eyes roved around the new surroundings. There were certain kids that caught his attention during his time there. There was Sasagawa Kyoko, a petite cherubic brunette who had a presence as bright as sunshine- yet she sometimes sported a cloudy expression as she stared at her brother’s back as he rushed all-round sporting small injuries here and there. Kurokawa Hana, a slightly moody and mature child surprisingly clicked well with her as she freely looked down on the various antics of the boys around her.

Kensuke Mochida who was athletic and a fun playmate with whom he could let loose on different sports equipment. It was all great fun given that the kid got easily riled up- at first (but never learned).

“Takeshi, it’s no fun with you.” The black-haired child would sulk when he saw how the gym teacher regressed along with the rest of the kindergartner spectators when he hit tiny home runs that soared over their bodies despite them jumping with all their might and scrambling towards the flying ball. The said balls were actually water balloons…

“It’s so not fair. The principal denied my request of making a gold trophy of your arm for the sports day festivals from now on…” that gym leader would whine. “I can’t even make him change the day to Takeshi day…”

Then Kensuke would proceed to ditch him to find his spotlight, while the other kids would crowd over him to drag him into other games. Takeshi always had a knack for games related to balls and skills involving dexterity. So much so that clean-up duties would be basketball free throws. That would instantly cheer up those who got stuck with it, directing their attention away from the Tsuna as he’d inevitably make things much harder for the lot.

Tsuna was infamous in another way. He was one of the three other kids who had a violent record, the other two being Hibari Kyoya and Sasagawa Ryohei. They all had different reasons for that reputation.

Hibari Kyoya could be sometimes seen on top of the monkey bars, kicking the daring challengers that climbed over them right onto the mud and dirt of the sandbox. He’d then show them a look that was holier than thou before taunting other kids to become the next victims.

Some parents who saw the scene called him Darth Vader, but didn’t dare butt in after seeing him throw a child right at his parent for trying to interfere. His reputation of paying people back at double the price didn’t help either.

Sasagawa Ryohei, on the other hand, got into fights for _justice._ The person he was mostly protecting was his little sister. While that attitude was commendable, his approach of fists before words and not picking his fights wasn’t. He was effectively a raging bull who was blind to his opponent which became all the more apparent when he got into a fistfight with the principal for after seeing his sister looking teary-eyed, completely misunderstanding how she looked for advice regarding his recklessness.

The power ranger demonstrations the kindergarten would host occasionally did not help in the slightest.

Sawada Tsunayoshi could be thought of as disaster personified- at least to the impulsive, short-tempered kids in Namimori’s Kindergarten. Takeshi never talked to him, but sometimes volunteered to stay back to help the kid out knowing his perchance for making things worse from his ditzy clumsiness. To be more specific, he couldn’t manage to hold a conversation with him. Tsuna’s eyes would always dart around when he was around.

It wasn’t fun when he could remember that some kids who’d directly approach him while having a bone to pick with the brunette ended up getting ‘along’ better with him. They’d pounce on him with the enthusiasm of sinking their teeth onto a new chew toy, and yet the brunette could face them despite looking terrified. It made Takeshi kind of upset and slightly reluctant to stick around and lend a hand- until his compassion occasionally struck for the awkward conversations again.

Tsuna’s relationship with the kids who fought with him was downright simple. He’d accidentally ruin their fun and so they wanted to get even.

It was a testament to the different ways people could get into fights when looking at those three.

* * *

In Namimori Elementary, their dynamics changed.

Takeshi found love in baseball. The team’s coach looked like he’d cry when he muttered that he should start from softball to account for his development before switching over to baseball. The thrill when wind flew through his hair as he narrowly dodged the touch of the players who wanted to stop him from stealing bases. The euphoria when hitting home runs and overcoming particularly hard pitches. The shared excitement among his teammates. The pride that came from taking the role of the team’s ace and being relied upon.

The people in the school started calling him the ace of the baseball team. They started calling each other by last names instead of propriety if they weren’t close. The subtle distance the children started giving each other and the wide berth they gave him from putting him on a pedestal slightly disgruntled him. Thus, he stopped focusing on the unnaturalness and focused on having fun.

One time he came back to the classroom to get something he had forgotten for his club before pausing at the sight of Kyoko waving goodbye with the usual cheer and seeing that the target was Dame-Tsuna of all people. It was the same kid who’d treated him like some of them did now from all the way in Kindergarten- putting him at a distance, as a source to be admired and intimidated by. It was a constant that he hadn’t appreciated.

“I didn’t know that you were close to Kyoko-chan. Even though you don’t even hang out with us. No fair, Dame-Tsuna.”

“Well, uh. Kyoko-chan seemed to like the idea that I suggested. I’ve gotten into the same stuff… B-besides, she’s always been friends with everyone!”

Yamamoto hummed as Tsuna floundered about with excuses. Even though he’d never called him by name- just referring him by his title when talking to other people. The ace cut down the vague feelings of murkiness that swiveled around him to go back and play. Nothing a hundred swings wouldn’t solve.

This time it was Sasagawa Ryohei who was the worried one out of the Sasagawa siblings. Mochida had gotten a taste of violence maybe from the influence of his favorite target, Dame-Tsuna. Takeshi thought that he wasn’t a good sportsman for using his skills from practicing kendo on untrained kids. While he was getting revered for his skills in competitions, he was also getting that respect from the forceful macho exhibitions.

His ego trip wasn’t undercut by Kyoko approaching him more frequently. Apparently, her brother also agreed with his sentiment that he’d sometimes come to grumble to Yamamoto about it.

“My parents were saying that it’s a phase. That girls dig bad boys… Even though she always told me not to fight…” the white-haired boy’s rare dispirited voice sounded out.

“Won’t it all work out in the end? She’s got both you and Kurokawa-san to look out for her.”

“It’s just that… Have you seen the stuff he did to that Tsunayoshi-kid? That guy’s got no chill. Who knows what’ll he do if my lil sis doesn’t pay attention to him. He’s even saying that she will be his girlfriend. Not if I have anything to do about it.”

‘And you’re saying that?’

“I can’t even challenge him one to one. He says the fight’s going to be Kendo or nothing. I even said yes and yet he still called me a cheater!”

“That was because you threw the shinai and made it a fistfight, senpai.”

“I can do whatever I want with a weapon right?”

“But it was good that you did that, he usually gives a 20kg shinai to his opponents.”

“What?! You mean I missed out on a perfectly good training opportunity?! The next time we should both spar with 50kg each.

No wonder Mochida was upset. I completely disregarded the bro code when he was coming at me seriously to get my approval!

What have I done?!”

“Ahahaha, that’d be interesting to watch.”

Needless to say, Mochida ran away at the sight of the boxer from then on.

Hibari, on the other hand, took up tonfas and began to expand his influence to make an excuse to beat more people up. He was frequently found in high places where he could look down on all the plebeians or even swoop up unsuspecting victims. Not to mention how much he showcased the fact that he hated crowds.

While that fact leads to him meeting with Tsuna sometimes seeing how much people liked to gang upon him. The people who picked a fight with the brunette added more itineraries to their motivations like relieving stress, to assert domination or because he was an easy target that stood out strangely. But, their actions remained the same, even exacerbated by the fact that Tsuna almost felt right at home with them. Well, it made him an easy gopher.

Hibari’s involvement was initially to mow through crowds, but things developed into a strange direction when Tsuna had shrieked – “If you want to fight crowds so much, you could send people to the hospital and visit it later on.”. It was like a eureka moment for the budding demon and hell for the residents of the town.

Now it was a fond hobby that the prefect would do if he was bored enough.

Once, in the classroom, excitement filled the air from a stray suggestion of doing a trial of courage. The school had its own seven mysteries that the students wanted to solve or brave through and the kids either joined from the indignation at being mocked at as a coward or were genuinely curious- or they had been roped in.

A slight silence ascended when Kyoko looked at Tsuna before asking, “What do you think, Tsuna-kun. Do you want to join?” To which angry gazes fell on the shrinking brunette asking how did he become worthy of Kyoko’s personal invitation. Pressured and wanting to escape the stares, Tsuna gave a hasty acceptance- but that got Yamamoto’s smile to stiffen.

When did they get so close that they became acquaintances? Why did he accept her invitation when he gave many before? Although they were halfhearted jokes, he wouldn’t have minded if the other actually took up on his offer. He quickly lost that trail of thought as his friends brought him back to their attention.

The first trial involved a music room like it was a cliché. It was supposedly a piano that played itself which they suspected was the grudge of a student that was suppressed from achieving her dreams. When they reached there, they could hear the sounds of a piano wailing and glimpses of blood red. Yamamoto got curious and opened the door wide open despite his other classmates that were ready to bolt.

Surprisingly, it was the ‘musician’ who was in the middle of an escape, seemingly from the threat of being caught. It was a student from another school apparently practicing. The redhead put up his hands in surrender.

“N-now, I can explain. I’m not anyone suspicious. I just wanted to maintain my piano skills.”

“They don’t have a music room in your school?”

“No, no, no. It’s not like that. I’ve just… been banned from the music room there, so I was finding another place to suit my purpose… U-um. Please keep it a secret!”

Well it was no wonder. It would be insulting to call him the next Beethoven… the composer would be rolling around in his grave if he heard that.

Feeling kind of miffed, they decided to look for the second mystery, a mannequin that made sounds like it was the next Frankenstein.

When they reached the biology room, Tsuna had a look of recognition, so did the bullies who immediately figured out the puzzle. “What kind of mystery is that? Dame-Tsuna hides inside them when we came for a little heart to heart.”

“B-but, the janitor said that he’d stuff you guys into the closet too the next time he finds me there…”

“What, did you snitch on us?”

“Leave it at that. We’ve crossed this one out of the list. Is it all going to be this disappointing?”

The third mystery was bright lights from the boxing club. But as Kyoko heard it, she immediately said, “That’s my big bro and his club mates. He thinks that’s the way to train the members to fight well in unknown surroundings. It doesn’t work well because he said that some of them try to take potshots in the dark at those who were fighting.”

“But that doesn’t explain the lighting-”

“The ones who’re fighting were wearing uniforms in neon and paints that glow in the dark. He does these training routines to spice things up. I personally wish he’d stop completely…”

The excitement and nervousness that filled the air completely vanished, leaving behind bored students who decided they’d rather go home than ruin any more mysteries.

“Yamamoto, how about we get some sushi?”

“Hm? Oh sure. How about this, it’ll be my treat.”

“That’s great! At least there’s something good we got out of this whole mess.”

Seeing Tsuna stealthily make and exit, Yamamoto circled an arm around his shoulder before wheeling him in the others direction saying, “Hm? Dame-Tsuna you’ve never been to Takesushi before, right? You’re in for a real surprise.”

The best way to make a person realize that someone isn’t one dimensional would be to show their other aspects.

When they reached the shop, Yamamoto reached a compromise with his dad for his impulse decision for a free meal. It was a chance to showcase his skills too.

Seeing his classmates ooh and aah over his sleekness, the ace sported a huge grin as he skillfully cut a fish clean of its bones noticing how Tsuna’s eyes stuck to the blade’s each and every movement. It was the first time he had gotten the brunette’s full attention and it brought his mood up even higher. Even if the gleam in those eyes gradually faded during the actual sushi-making process, the black-haired boy didn’t even notice it as he got into the lively atmosphere that surrounded the place.

The next day, things went to normal and nothing changed.

But in that year, the Yamamoto family had the devastating event of the mother dying. Yamamoto wore black funeral clothes, identical to the rest present in the ceremony. The atmosphere was somber and people passed by giving him looks of pity and saying condolences. It felt like they were simply brushing past him, floating through him as he didn’t stay grounded to the situation at hand.

Tsuyoshi had brought Takeshi aside when it happened and explained the situation carefully.

_“I’ll protect you Takeshi.”_

His red eyes were a telling tale, leaving his friends at a loss of how to cheer him up.

_“We’re down to two now, but it’s all going to be fine. We’ve got each other after all. Nothing will change. We can still be happy.”_

His shoulders had a slouch, but his father’s back looked like they were carrying the whole world looking at how much the man drooped. It was the first time the other showed his weakness so explicitly.

He had always thought that his parents were invincible. He always dreamt of a future with them.

In school, people kept him at arm’s length, treating him like a porcelain doll. It was suffocating. It was a dreary feeling from the fact that people kept reminding him of the current- even if it wasn’t intentional.

On impulse, he headed back to the classroom to see Tsuna stuck with cleaning duty.

“Dame-Tsuna. You look as unaffected as always. You probably don’t even understand what I’m feeling.”

”…I’ve experienced something similar. My dad’s death was sudden.”

“…When was this? ...Why didn’t you tell me?”

“A month before.

…You’re the ace. And besides, it’s not really related to you…”

Yamamoto’s smile disappeared from his face. It was the first time that his position made him dissatisfied.

He slammed the door and almost ran out of the school when he spotted Mochida. Out of spite, he asked him, “Did you know that Tsuna’s dad died?”

“That useless idiot’s got some nerve trying to win points from you by trying to match sob stories. Can you believe that kid? He said that they only knew of his death by a postcard. Said something funny like he became a star.

They don’t even have a body to bury him with.

I personally think he spiced up the truth to make him seem more like a victim- Hey Yamamoto, what’s your problem-”

The kendo captain shouted indignantly at the blatant snub that the other gave him as he left the building right in the middle of their conversation.

While the students tried to stop them from burning a bridge, saying that Yamamoto was just emotionally sensitive right now, that day was when their friendship broke apart.

It was also when Yamamoto became subtly unfriendlier to a particular group of people.

* * *

_Back to the present._

The start of middle school was filled with new frontiers that the jock could challenge himself on. Expectations on him grew exponentially and his dazzling skills made his teammates rely on him even more. He carried the entire team on his shoulders and worked on his skills excessively to meet those high demands.

The title of Ace- now it almost integrated into his ego. It was a source of pride, but it was bittersweet thanks to Tsuna. And he was currently disappointing people with his stagnant growth period.

People reassured him like they were reassuring themselves that it was just a slump, and he’d quickly get over it, stronger than ever before. It was like they were vicariously living through him and having the experience of living as a genius.

Call it passion, but Yamamoto had always been dedicated to the sport. Part of these results was due to hard work- work that people weren’t willing to make, calling themselves ordinary people.

So, Yamamoto tried to pick up their slack, to see the vision he wanted to see come true on the field.

But genius can go only so far. And Yamamoto couldn’t see it, thinking that it was a slump.

When he went to the back alleys to prevent another pitying gaze from his friends, having grown sick and tired from it overlapping with the past- he saw a group of people from his rival team in their uniform. They had lopsided grins and sinister expressions, making their intentions quite clear.

At this moment, Yamamoto had a sudden thought.

“You guys want me to drop out of the coming game right?“

“Huh, didn’t think that you weren’t as airheaded as they described you. But too bad, even if you cry and beg for mercy we’re not letting you off. Of course, if you decide to fight back, we’ll disqualify you.”

Yamamoto reached for the back of his bag and pulled out his bat. The smiles immediately dropped and the bravado faded- after all, they were players, not delinquents.

“I’m willing to play along with that request if you’re willing to do something for me.”

“…What are you playing at?”

“I have a couple of people in my mind that I’d like you guys to wipe the floor with. If you do that, I’ll break my dominant arm. It’s a win-win, isn’t it?”

“What are the fuck are you going on about?! Why should we do that for you?! You’re obviously fibbing- there’s no way in hell that anybody’s going to do that-”

*Crack* a resounding boom fell on to their ears as they paled rapidly at the lack of hesitation from the ace- currently, the dud of an ace. With a slight cheer, a voice filled with pain continued-

“Now, if you guys don’t cooperate, you’d be the ones who’re disqualified, maybe even do juvy for a while. Man, that _hurts._ ” Yamamoto said waving an id card he had filched from the ring leader during the closeup.

“…W-why are you going so far?”

“I’m outnumbered, so it was going to be hard for me to do it on my own. If you guys have the will to hurt someone, you might as well do me a favor too. This way, there’d be no hard feelings- it’s all in the name of good sportsmanship.”

This was the perfect opportunity. Now there was no way he could be called the Ace. The ones who swarmed around him would also disappear.

‘Now, what would you call me? You’ll get no one to compare against for judging who’s a friend and who’s a foe.

If what you call a friend is one who stays by your side, regardless of what they do to you… Then,

I’ll be your best friend.’

The next day, the cast on his shoulder invoked so much panic. People grimaced at him when he said he accidentally overworked himself. They were hysteric as they advised him over and over again to do things in moderation.

The coach looked at him with a somber look as he claimed that recovery would be a harsh road. That he might never reach his full potential again. His teammates looked at him with betrayal for this travesty.

And so, he played along and asked Tsuna in the classroom during the club activities.

“The doc said that even with rehabilitation, it’s going to be hard to reach my peak again. Apparently, this is the best time to develop as a player.

Aww… I’ve really done it now. I heard that people have gotten attacked in a similar incident. Talk about bad luck. I’ve dodged that one, and yet I’ve still come injured.

Do you have any advice on what I should do now, Tsuna?”

“…It’s not yet hopeless, Yamamoto-kun. It may seem hopeless now, but there might be another door opening for you.”

“I might try kendo. It’s all so violent nowadays, so I gotta learn how to protect my pops n I.”

After all, wouldn’t it be easier to fill in a gap? This was all because Tsuna wouldn’t make space for him.


	4. The price for protection

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all. Thanks for all the comments. I bet you didn't expect an update this soon.  
> Hope you enjoy the story. The plot will only thicken :)

“I want to protect my big brother.”

Sasagawa Kyoko could vividly remember the sting from her watery eyes as she saw her brother come time and time again to protect her and to protect someone else. Where she tried to convince people to stop getting rough, he jumped right in and put a stop to it.

It was like words couldn’t get through those people, who fought amongst themselves to compete over her. They tried to prove themselves to her or they tried to protect her stance.

When the first fist flew, the second came in retaliation, and soon a flurry of limbs came here and there. It was much more cathartic to see the other wince in pain, a perfectly natural reaction than win them over with a silver tongue. They called those who employed such means as snakes.

Hana was the only one who deeply understood the need for her pacifism. She snorted over the boys’ need for rivalry and the sometimes primal instinct that took over them. Even if there were exceptions, Kyoko couldn’t help but notice this group of people instead – looking on in fright as her brother gave up chinks of his armor to win a fight.

She couldn’t care less about the bonds that developed through fists, as she saw with her own eyes how violence begets violence.

Her brother was one to never give in, despite the odds. He was the only one who stood back up when facing that Hibari Kyoya. In fact, he was one of the stoppers that prevented her brother from pulling in all the aggro. But it didn’t change the fact about the horror she saw when the other pummeled her brother to the ground.

Her brother stepped right in, pulling her over to his back. She was more familiar with that sight than seeing him face her. It was as if his attention was pulled over those around her and those interactions wove a web that grew larger and larger.

She had seen him win against all odds, as people bigger than him that towered over him came for an eye for an eye- seeing that their family member was injured. They were faster than him, stronger and more well-built than him. They were smarter and more experienced than him.

Her brother… wasn’t a machine. The bruises that he collected like badges of honors, some leaving scars, and some breaking bones. The first time she saw his arm dislocated from his shoulder after a particularly mean punch left her horrified. The thing that looked very similar to her own dangled in an odd angle- no human should have been able to do that. Then her brother put the arm back to place like a doll and simply continued.

It had gotten so bad that she even saw people bringing metal pipes or sharp blades to the fight. And yet, he… insisted on fighting bare-fisted- claiming that it would be unmanly of him to do otherwise. While his expression of triumph showed whenever he won difficult, and downright impossible fights was awe-inducing, it also brought out a sense of dread that pooled in her stomach- never quite fading away.

Kyoko wept incessantly.

Yet, her brother never listened.

Her brother’s back was small, even if it bigger than hers. Yet, he insisted on taking the whole world on it. He boldly challenged, leaving a big target sign on his back.

Ryohei promised her sometimes when he got moved by her tears that he would never fight yet fighting became ingrained in his blood as he went and took up boxing.

While he claimed that it was a form of communication, it was a terribly inefficient form. Kyoko didn’t know his limits and didn’t want to have known it from experience.

Her morbid curiosity let her approach Tsuna as she asked him, “What do you think would happen if they went too far?”

After all if there was someone who took beatings for breakfast, it was the scrawny boy in front of her.

“Does it seem that bad…? They do tend to go too far, but my fear keeps me safe.”

That was right. People put down cowards, but they were the ones to survive. Heroes, on the other hand, lived only in memories, leaving a blazing history while burning up like firecrackers. They were inscribed in history and forever inspired and gave hope, but rarely lived to tell the tale.

That was the difference between the brunette and her brother. It was a notion that made the girl’s face pale rapidly.

What could she do to increase her brother’s chance of survival?

How could she protect her reckless brother? He was practically an adrenaline junkie.

And so she asked Yamamoto, “What would you do if you collapse under your training? Wouldn’t everything go down the drain if you don’t pace yourself?”

Yamamoto looked like he was remembering a particularly bad memory. It was a thought that implied a version of him that was dragged down to the realm of ordinary beings, maybe even those subpar.

“I wonder how people would look at me if I wasn’t amazing anymore. Maybe it’d make them a bit more honest with me.

That’d be great. But it’ll be a shame if I can’t play anymore. Even though it’s so interesting…

Mmm… that’s a hard choice.”

But Yamamoto was different from her brother in that he was somewhat lonely from being put in a spotlight, on a stage and a different plane from other people.

* * *

Initially, it was Kyoko who decided to make him have a taste of his own medicine from her frustration.

Mochida Kensuke was a person who made her uncomfortable with how he looked at her, but when she started hanging around him, her feelings even infected her brother.

“Do you _have_ to hang out with him? It’s just that, Mochida’s… problematic.”

The kendo captain had a record of trying to put people in their place. He had a penchant for wanting to look like a king, despite being a big fish in a small well. On top of that, he tucked his tail and ran when he was faced with a stronger opponent like Hibari or Yamamoto.

‘In what way? He’s almost a mirror image of you when it comes to picking fights.’

“…It’s not only me, you know. Even Kurokawa thinks he’s got bad vibes. And she’s super smart. Mom says it’s a phase but-”

“Big bro, you don’t know anything!”

Surprisingly, the only good thing that came out of it was a damper in her brother’s ginormous spirit. But the wariness that her brother had could only last until he stopped viewing Mochida as a threat.

That’s why she openly displayed her disinterest in the boy. It infuriated him, bringing him close to his tipping point.

“Kyoko… reconsider it will you? It’s really hard to watch you two.”

Hana, on the other hand, looked at Kyoko amusedly,

“Your bro’s been hovering around you like a mom over a rebellious teen. While it’s not bad to see you so relaxed… Kyoko, that idiot is a chauvinistic pig. He only acts kind to people to show off. He’s utterly insufferable.

Your idea’s only working now. You’re walking on a tight rope. I don’t think it’s worth it. I don’t want to see you get hurt.

Your bro’s a separate case. I can see why you want to keep this up, seeing that idiot will only stop if his entire body breaks down.”

“Hana-chan, you’ve seen how much my big bro gets hurt every day. This much is nothing.”

“Gosh, you’ve even started swapping roles. I’m not a fan of it. I hear people say that siblings resemble each other, but you’re taking up his worrying aspects.”

“I’ll protect him.”

Then it finally happened.

“Why don’t you stop sending me mixed signals, you bitch.”

Kyoko’s collar was grabbed as she stood on her tiptoes. The tightness around her neck was suffocating and she could feel her face burning up. Mochida’s voice was thunderous, making her flinch.

Kurokawa’s moved immediately. She shoved him with the force from the momentum, making him drop her from the shock.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing to Kyoko, you shitty ape?!”

She stood in between them, putting her face right into Mochida’s sight as she berated.

“Just try to pull this shit again and I’ll make you pay dearly. Don’t even think of appearing in front of Kyoko again.

You think you’re hot shit, acting like you’re prince charming or something and then you pull this?!”

“Stay out of this Kurokawa. It’s none of your business.

This is all her fault. Baiting me like that- I don’t want to be toyed with like an idiot!”

“You lay your hand on my best friend and have the gall to say that?!

You’re the idiot for not taking a clue. And yet you stick around _every single day_.”

“She clearly likes it because she stayed-”

“Your definition of sticking around is you approaching her every time.

What era are we in? Your way of picking up chicks is ancient!”

“What do you care? I’m not aiming for you-”

Kurokawa stopped paying attention to the blathering idiot and instead looked at her shaken friend. She was shivering as her fingertips touched her collar. A red ring was imprinted as the other wheezed.

As the ruckus grew, more and more people gathered around as the peanut gallery started to butt in with their own opinions. It was claustrophobic. Kyoko wasn’t looking any better.

Finally, an arm pushed right into the crowd and pulled her right out of her. Ryohei silently pulled her out of the situation, his face severe. It seemed that he prioritized over getting her to safety over trying to enact justice on her behalf.

“Are you all right? Is there any place that hurts?” he asked in a worried tone.

It seemed like the overly bitter medicine played its part. It was an ominous thought that rung in Kyoko’s head. It was a price well paid for, given the rewards. It seemed like she could teach her brother to shelter him carefully if she paid for it in pain.

She could use this.

“…It hurts so much big bro.” Tears fell from her eyes like a drizzle.

“Mochida-kun was so scary. But he won’t leave me alone.”

Ryohei looked furious immediately going into attack mode. But he couldn’t go after him, not with his sister crying her eyes out like this.

“Kyoko… Everything’s going to be ok. I’ll protect you.

I’m right here. Nothing’s going to get you.”

He hugged her tightly to provide a comfortable shoulder to cry onto. Kyoko’s hands clutched the fabric strongly as her eyes sparkled.

The effect was quite strong. Ryohei had stopped frequently staying for after-hours in the boxing club as he decided to personally be her chauffer to and from the school. It was definitely a step in the right direction.

Turns out that fear was a great emotion. She felt grateful to Tsuna for making her realize that.

Later on, things got even better for her. Rather than easing up, the situation got worse, with Yamamoto getting an arm fracture while several other boys got injuries of similar severities. The latter had a common link, they were all Tsuna’s bullies.

“I don’t know what you did, but it worked great. Looks like it’s a win-win situation for the both of us!” she chirped while looking at the innocent look sported by the brunette. In response, the other frowned uneasily.

Hibari was busy trying to resolve the incident and her big brother was strung uptight from the string of cases. With the situation expanding like this, her brother wasn’t even left with a target to solve the situation. It was like he was forced to realize that not everything could be settled his fists, especially given that these occurred in a close time interval.

Mochida was even moodier when he saw that Yamamoto decided to abandon baseball and focus on kendo instead. It was like his thunder was stolen at an instant, leaving him with nothing in the end. It was like dropping him from heaven to hell.

Seems like Tsuna profited the most from it as the victims could easily link their identities together. It brought about a healthy fear that made them avoid him like a plague. Not to mention that Yamamoto was sticking around the brunette. He got rid of his tormenters and even got a friend.

From a tree in the school, Reborn looked at his current disciple with a look of contemplation. The dying will bullet would have to go. While it would have been fun to see the kid run around in his underwear as he did stuff, it wasn’t a great choice for the current situation.

The dying will bullet was ordinary if the other lacked the regrets. So far, the kid was able to do whatever he wanted to and didn’t have lingering attachments from that twisted ideal of his. The only regret was from Reborn’s explanations and triggering that would put Vongola right into a hot pan. Iemitsu was already devastated by the loss of his wife.

It was only one incident so far, and yet the brunette had a penchant for bringing out the sinister aspects of people- despite his responses. That alone made him a risky candidate.

For a moment, Tsuna’s eyes met with his own, startling him. Those eyes were blazing gold and bore a startling resemblance to the founder. If these weren’t coincidences, but rather spurred by those flames of harmony…

Didn’t Nono manage to seal those flames?


	5. Cuckoo

Reborn observed Tsuna as he closed the door of his room before speaking bluntly.

"Stop playing dumb, Tsuna. I'm here to train you into a great boss, one that would garner your subordinate's respect, but I don't approve of this method.

Your flames had to be sealed for your own good when you were a child. So how are you using it so skillfully?"

"…Is that what you call it? Flames? Maybe that was why I was literally on fire at that time. It scared me so much, but it was so freeing.

You know, Reborn… You say it's a good thing- but I'd lost something of myself that day. It still disorients me today. Nothing much has changed since that time. The thing that gramps did that day, it's burned into my memory, like he had burned that seal deep inside me."

"Then how?"

"It was because a hole had been created that I noticed its absence much clearer. I wanted what was mine back. So much so that I tried many things because I noticed that, something that could be a substitute was present in others."

"Is that why you've meddled in their problems? That's awfully selfish of you,Tsuna."

"…You've not even heard the whole story, so why're you jumping the gun?"

"It's because they're all excuses. Is that what your harmony is right now? A motley of the different flames? How did you take it?"

"It's the other way around, Reborn. Their will simulated my flames, especially when they try to reach out to me. That's why I love people who love me back.

I noticed it coming out when Kyoko-chan's brother was fighting. It tugged at me."

"Is that why you bait them, provoking them to get violent with you? If it was affection you were seeking, wasn't your mama enough?"

"Mom loved me, but she was always reaching out for dad. It's even more obvious when dad visited us. It's hard not to notice it."

"You tried to get her attention by telling her that Iemitsu was dead right? Then your flame that caught on to her agitation harmonized with it even further, anchoring that anxiety.

You're still repeating that mistake, even now."

"It's not a mistake-"

"I don't approve of your methods of bonding with people.

Yamamoto was your guinea pig. Was it worth the rift he created between him and the people around him? "

"He caused me quite a lot of trouble actually. He ruined everything. It broke everything between my friends and me." Tsuna's sorrowful voice made the tutor narrow his eyes.

Tsuna seemed to have a fondness towards people who were beaten down. The times he acknowledged Kyoko, Yamamoto, Hibari or Gokudera were when they were at a boiling point. They were dangling from a cliff, chased into that place by Tsuna's antics. Then, the brunette offered a thread of salvation which they immediately took to.

Well, in Hibari's case, it was his curiosity that was pushed to the brink though.

"I saw the way you lead Gokudera around the nose. You made him follow your line of sight, mimic your movements as he saw only what you wanted him to see.

His past is his vice and yet, you relentlessly exploited it. You amplified it by trying to resonate with him. Gokudera Hayato is easily agitated. His life experience until now was full of pitfalls. He pledged his loyalty to you, supported your fall and yet you repay his goodwill with evil."

The hitman spoke, trying to evoke feelings of guilt from the brunette, to fix that broken moral compass of his. He tilted his fedora, his eyes shadowed. He should have come earlier. They warped this kid thoroughly.

"You used your own mother to invoke Hibari's sense of violence. When you lured him all the way to the scene, you even led him to her resting place that simply mocks her along with everything else in the house.

The lower floor is filled with the memories of the two. Yet, you let her believe that they were separated without even a last word and that she couldn't even mourn for him as his body wasn't even found. You tricked her into thinking that she was here smiling every day when her husband died in some unknown ditch. " The baby seethed.

"No, she was happy. She was just like me, connecting with dad. Her flames leaked out every day and I helped to make her memories so prominent that he could be so vivid that he might as well be there.

Her Iemitsu was a man I've never seen before. I always saw him lounging around in his underwear and leaving despite my pleas for him to stay around for mom. Her view of dad would be better seen by her mind, rather than her getting disappointed when she sees dad for who he really was.

They were always in a honeymoon period, but mom was the one who relieved those short times when they were actually together."

"You don't know love or affection, Tsuna. If you really did know, you'd understand why mama cherished those occasions. It's not all about the strength of emotion nor is it about pining.

She died from your meddling."

"No, she's left so many things behind-"

"No, she died. She left things behind without seeing through them because she was cornered into abandoning them. They're all that's left of her. They're the things that she once cherished, but then, you changed them all into things that brought pain to her.

No one would know how she would have lived from then, what exactly she would have thought if she wasn't grieving or escaping from reality. You forcefully changed her state of mind and didn't allow her to move on.

You're still not letting her move on.

You've desecrated her corpse.

Your love is violence."

Reborn wanted Tsuna to see the truth. He was to be the child's guide when he was fooling both himself and others. It was never too late to learn from one's own mistakes.

"You need to know what it entails to take someone under your wing-"

"…It's not too late." Tsuna's emotionless voice rung out.

Reborn's countenance looked severe.

"You… know how to turn back time.

You have too much experience to account for being a genius. Plus, that pacifier… it has the exact same vibe as you do."

"Don't speak nonsense. Her body is scattered and a part of your backyard. There's no going back for her. It's the reason why life is precious."

"…You're only talking about my mom's revival. But you haven't denied the possibility of time travel."

"You're missing the point here."

"Why? Is my mother's death convenient for you? You've got the guardians of the Vongola Decimo set that way-"

**Bang.**

_A bullet whizzed by, singing Tsuna's hair._

"Those guardians are yours. You're the one who's been playing with them."

"I've not-"

"You might as well be. While growth can be extremely fast when people are pushed to the brink, my trials aim at fostering you to be the best you can be. You bring out the worst in other people.

I've not satisfied with keeping things the way they are, Tsuna. Neither am I interested in playing along with your schemes. Keep that in mind."

"If you have the ability, you could use it for the mission too. You could rewind it before Xanxus killed the other candidates. It's a great deal for even the Vongola-"

"It's not a panacea nor is it solving the problem at its root. At most, it'll delay Xanxus. Plus, the time travel as tested by the Bovino family only transports one person through time and that too, to ten years in the future. Doing so would lead to unintended ripple effects. It also exposes those in the future along with the traveller to a huge risk.

Yet, Bovino uses it haphazardly- that idiot."

"Then why do you-"

"What I carry is a curse, the curse of the Arcobaleno. It's not that I've reversed time, but my time is stuck at a standstill until it consumes me completely. My pacifier is proof that we bear it."

"It doesn't have to be a curse. It could revive her and give her back the time I took."

"What difference does it make if her time still remains in a standstill. The only thing that changes is whether she's alive or dead and yet, she could make that decision for herself and she would be more at peace that it was a choice that she undertook.

You're still trying to make her decisions for her.

Tsuna, try to understand my intentions when I'm explaining things one by one to you like this. It's better that you're regretting it, but I want you to shoulder the mistakes that you've made and use it as an important lesson to never do it again.

That is the respect I want you to treat your subordinates with. It's because your decisions can come at a heavy cost as you've just learned. It's for that reason you should change the way you behave so that you're treated like you treat others. It's so that you don't harm those you want to protect and your will, your intention matches with your actions."

It was a bitter medicine as Reborn did the same thing to Tsuna as he did to Nana, corrupting his thoughts and memories of her. He changed the house that was to be her heaven to her place of torment. He would have to do it all over again when he would tell Iemitsu. It would break their family apart, but it was a problem they both must overcome.

Reborn wanted Tsuna to know that there was more to life than an instant of the past that was to be immortalized forever. The child did not have to cling on to one part as he sacrificed everything around him.

There was a story about a gilded statue of a prince with eyes of sapphire that looked upon a troubled town. The statue had a bleeding heart and was fortunate enough to grant the requests of the troubled souls that sought the numerous golden leaves that plated his skin and clothes. It was so abundant that it seemed like the prince wouldn't lack for anything, even if he spared a leaf or two. The souls that asked him felt that by giving one of the leaves to them wouldn't affect the statue one bit, but it would greatly benefit them instead. It wouldn't have hurt the other to help a pal out.

But there were simply too many people who wanted to help themselves or fulfil their greed and the material that the statue was sculpted from was a finite resource. Finally, even the beautiful sapphire eyes were plucked out, leaving the prince utterly bereft and as a result, abandoned.

It was a cautionary tale that left the people who heard it utterly aghast, even though Yamamoto couldn't sympathize with them. As he grew up, he felt that he had a lot to offer, so much so that no matter how much he gave, it never felt enough. It was because he was capable of doing, even more, he could offer much more to the table.

In return, people gave back, even if it wasn't something that they had to struggle or work to attain and gift back. It wasn't something to be produced, it was a by-product of consumption. That companionship that came from being a 'peanut gallery', the numerous benefits that came from being relied upon. Yamamoto didn't have to change himself and read the mood to belong, there was no need for normative conformation. His genius in sports lead to people conforming around him and shape themselves to extend his reach allowing himself to gain information from his social groups. It was easier for him to meet halfway, rather than carefully dress in whatever feathers his friends covered themselves him. It allowed him to mix in with different types of people.

It was also for this reason that he couldn't feel pity for the happy prince. He was able to achieve freedom and become omniscient as his leaves were a part of everyone around him. There was no way he could have been abandoned when he was everywhere. He was as important, in-demand and ever-present as air itself.

It was a recent notion, something he learned as he started sympathizing with the loneliness of the prince as he started to feel his limits in the last couple of months. He learned it again when he felt relief as his arm was fractured as a deal and in return, he could reach further and finally reach an itch that irritated him for quite a while.

That skill in baseball being compromised immediately threatened his team-mates, his classmates and his friends as they were robbed of dreams and made him realize his intrinsic value all the more distinctly.

Every time he felt like admonishing himself for stray thoughts of exasperation as his friends hung onto his every word and action, like as if he was ridiculous for feeling like he was the king- he met with Tsuna's eyes that shone gold, gold like the statue of the Prince. It made him think that he was the object of desire, the carrot that could be dangled just beyond reach.

It made him think that the happy prince played his cards well, since, if he didn't raise a benevolent hand to those desperate, selfish and greedy townspeople, their eyes would stray, and they would find alternative sustenance. As the prince spoiled his people with everything they could wish for, they grew increasingly dependent on him, so much so that drunk him completely dry. They never learned to stand on their two feet.

As Tsuna's golden eyes glowed upon him in that small and empty classroom, Yamamoto felt like the friendship that he offered the other served as the sapphire eyes that the lonely boy craved for.

That was why he frowned in displeasure as the webcam, a token of friendship, he planted in Tsuna's bag showed him the conversation between the 'kid' and the brunette.

It was like the statue was going to be rebuilt starting from the sapphires. Finally, the golden statue would be restored, forever to be simply looked upon, this time as vacuous and useless as air, forever untouched. Those eyes that let him be the happy prince that stole eyes and tempted and seduced people into a connection so deep it was sinful were going to change to plain auburn, like the abandoned bereft statue.

It brought a shiver.

Now that wouldn't do.

They were gifts, not things to covet.

It was like the sapphires that were plucked out flew right out of the brunette's hands as the cuckoo draped itself with it, reaping the rewards, claiming them all for itself.

At that moment, the sling on Yamamoto's hand felt heavier as the doctor's morose look appeared.

" _It'll be hard to recover to your full potential. Rehabilitation will at the minimum increase the chances of the restoration of the full functioning of your arm, that is, for your arm to get to normal."_

Those eyes that brought peace to him as he could honestly appreciate himself and his worth in a society where humility grasped people by the neck to cull confidence, call it arrogance. Where the feeling of uniqueness and talent wasn't rewarded, but instead shown as a long, long journey searching for the next peak to challenge while being blinded into seeing plains all around him- for equality.

All of a sudden, it was like it was Yamamoto who sought the sapphires from the gilded statue.

Well, it was fine weather it was Yamamoto who took the sapphires or Tsuna who wanted them instead. Either way, they were both ways that Yamamoto could be a part of Tsuna.

But, it wasn't a fair game if the kid got involved. After all, he was the outsider who couldn't be a part of the story.


	6. I see myself in you

Porcelain walls, marbled floors, decorative statues that had a soft candlelight glow diffused on the surface as the chandelier above the wide floor glowed beautifully. Stained glass windows that let polarized light taking on the different colours of the pieces as they reflected and refracted across the different architectural designs.

They cracked loudly amidst infiltrations, fragile as they were and strategically close to entry points for easy detections. Many of the works hung on the walls as tokens of bribery, display of weaknesses laundered around to account for debts and favours- intimidating guests, reminding them of the price they paid for living.

The polite mannerisms of the different servants that came and went. Their impeccable manners, their distant yet servile attitude that made them heed to the beck and call of their masters as they granted any and requests, whether it be verbal or nonverbal.

-Replaced often to prevent familiarity and the possibility of them deflecting as insiders, tempted or threatened by enemies. To prevent an attachment from familiarity when they were caught in the middle of a gunfight. Some as a tribute for entertaining guests, living trophies as hostages of other weaker families- to be kept an eye on and to observe a running rat that scuttled around for information that would get themselves and their dear ones out off the beast's maw.

Mahogany, ebony, maple, rosewood decorated furniture that made it seem like entire forests from different tropics were concentrated in the abode, making for a miniature Gaia, as crafted leaves made from gemstones- emeralds and rubies for making up the different seasons. Glass blown furniture's that encased its beautiful appearance at the cost of the craftsmen's eyes and lungs. Taxidermy of hunts and games, a display of power and skill for preserving life in its final moments, a sham of the magnificent creature it once was. They lived on as they died.

The extravagancy that surrounded Gokudera's childhood always felt like a masquerade, for something that delicate and elegant couldn't possibly be a part of the Mafia. The polite masks that people donned as they masked their savagery, that underlying darkness that exploited and sapped the very life of their victims in the name of conviction and chivalry as they amassed wealth an honest living could never accumulate fast enough. This mansion that they lived in was drenched in blood with air that was contaminated in deceit.

Gokudera could see past the faux pretences that the Mafia Boss, his father put as he usurped and created a place for himself amidst the nobles that rode on coattails, inheriting legacies as they tightly held onto their amassed fortune.

"This will all be yours when you grow up, Hayato."

Yes, all that blood and violence would transfer themselves onto his hands, the very lithe and delicate fingers that spun gentle tones on the piano as it played 'Clair de Lune', disarming the petite woman who looked over his prowess. Her figure slouched slightly as she sighed wistfully as the sounds permeated the practice room. It was a room without carpets or curtains that absorbed the sound, instead opting for resonating the tunes amidst the close, soundproof walls. The piano had been carefully tuned every day.

She was the sole exception, one of the few constants that accompanied Gokudera, someone he thought was far from the bloody ties that bound them together in the name of family. The piano sang with a pristine melody in bright stages in concerts and recitals. A feeling akin to stage fright was replaced as his sister with purple hair, distinct from his own silver hair, Bianchi cheered him on with her special brand of homemade food. His stomach would feel like it was eating itself from the inside as sweat pooled all over, a pain worse than mere nervousness as eyes filled with expectation, that lady's anticipation focussed on his performance. Light-headedness and nausea overcame him as his fingers took flight purely on muscle memory as he tried to shift focus to the music that overflew. Debussy's reverie filled the music hall, as the pain bled into the background as he fell into a soft companionship, an illusion of peace.

One where the lady with flawless hands with similar features mentored him with a quiet smile in a room with a piano that asked hours and hours of their time to sing of a myriad of emotions bled into the notes of composers, more truthful than he had ever seen around his surroundings.

Her hands that mussed his hair without trembling or hesitating in fear, the trigger that could set off the Boss's temper from the show of disrespect. Their apprehension at his sharp perception and intelligence. Eyes that betrayed just how much he could understand and the secrets that he had filed away for god knows what reason. Her every gesture showed him just how much she cherished him with the warm look that she showered him with like he wasn't the means to an end. The pieces that she cherry-picked for him with expectations on just how she wanted to raise him, hopes and dreams of what could be- like Haydn, Mozart and Dvorak compositions. The sudden hugs followed by squeals of "How cute!" that she'd give when she spotted a blush that dusted over his skin at the attention and praise.

Where he didn't have to notice and care for why only his sister shared features with their mother and father, while even if Gokudera looked vaguely like his father, the puzzle was left incomplete with a dangling, broken piece at his side- the one who wouldn't get replaced and would be unseen and not acknowledged. Biology, that science would whisper family secrets, but he didn't have to listen, lost in the serenity evoked by those black and white keys. He didn't have to think of the time between the end and start of the meeting, the threat that arose from her permanence and the fear that arose from wondering about the vulnerability of the civilian with inner strength and lithe body- one that was not robust nor rugged from the countless atrocities that littered in every corner of the majestic mansion. The piano room was their gilded cage, but the door was wide open for the lady, Lavina to leave as she pleased. But like a tamed bird, she would always return.

Gokudera hated the fact that he was the incentive.

Amidst those closed walls, his hands were freedom as his face was slack enough to let joy slip past without consequences. There were no other eyes here, just the two of them, two humans who simply practised music together. The bond that Hayato could showcase in the concerts, wearing a black suit- _just like the mafia, no stains will show_. The childish grin would escape as it grew infectious as Bianchi would congratulate him as they made plans for the celebration and this time, she wouldn't need to spill lies one after the other. Not about her missions, her occupation, her honey traps and poisons that killed people without getting her hands dirty. Nor about the origin or identity of the Lavina, the woman he stuck to like glue and without warning him about getting too close to her ( _for her safety_ ).

He found himself in the spotlight, concerto after concerto, recitals, plays and orchestras. Shadows tagged behind him, hidden away from his line of sight. Bianchi brought bouquets that stood out with bright colours, always the first person to congratulate him on a performance from the backstage… with her food rioting in his stomach during the performance. They also looked bright with colours that nature employed to show how poisonous they were to consume and something Gokudera had to begrudgingly ignore at the goodwill from his sister (which made it seem like being on her good or bad side didn't matter at all, they were all going to experience the same thing. Just like how any food would end up in a stomach, only to turn into shit, but it's different!). On other times, it would be him bathing in sunlight and warm hues as four hands would play merry tunes like peppy ragtime as they went into impromptus after impromptus with laughter in the air, a melody of its own that added on to the jazz.

Sometimes his mentor would be in a playful tone as she would give him a shit-eating grin as she taunted him to concentrate while she tickled loud guffaws out of him. Bianchi would sometimes smirk as she lay across the piano surface in a gown as Gokudera would look exasperated and deeply concerned at the extra weight on the delicate instrument until she noticed that gaze.

"Hayato~ I'm not even that heavy! Even though a beautiful lady's across your piano~ You're not romantic at all! Boo! You'll not get popular with the ladies this way!~" she'd pout as her cheeks flushed and she'd take another wine glass and the tipsy handling of the glass as it hovered across the piano would send Gokudera into full alert.

* * *

The piano soon became a bittersweet memory. It filled him with rose-coloured memories. The day where she'd never make it for the class with her body mangled in a car crash without any farewells. She was unarmed with none of the protection forces assigned to her. He had been practising Chopin's Ballade No. 1 in G Minor and it had been so fitting, resonated so deeply with the predicament and the melody just went on and on within his head, his hands long stopped and shivering in disbelief.

He felt like he was hyper-aware of his surroundings as the one who came to tell him of the news was Bianchi- no one else remembered or bothered to tell him, the one who'd be most affected by the death that not raised not one eyebrow in the mansion. The red wine that Bianchi had left on the piano the last night, the one that he left for later to remove to practise- the crescendos in the piece were difficult and the mood to get the tempo and intonation right for the piece had been difficult to grasp- and yet now, it was flowing and loudly at that, ringing in his ears. His sudden movement tipped the glass as the crimson liquid dripped and seeped into the keys as the piano croaked horribly.

His eyes were wide open and his pupils expanded to their limits as his voice warbled.

"W-Why? W-was it because we're not family?"

Bianchi's eyes widened ever so slightly at the fact that he realized what she tried to protect him from. But she remained silent- an admission of truth.

He felt blood pool towards his ears as he heated up rapidly, dizzyingly. His eyes darted all over the place. The glass fell downwards with a shattering noise. _So loud._

The crimson overlapped with his imagination. Now she was just a body. They were outsiders the two of them, that's why the Mafia didn't extend its arms of protection to them. That was why he was always let off the loop. Bianchi's hair almost looked bright pink, reddish in that sunset. It was red all over and _Hayato could puke that very instant_.

He gasped for breath as tears pooled and burned and stung him.

He slapped away Bianchi's worried hands, hair tangled onto her arms like as if blood wrapped and crawled around it, to snake towards him- _death's invitation._

The guilt at the harsh action instantly clutched him as he saw her hurt gaze at the rejection. He curled into himself as he keened pitifully as screams wouldn't leave him. Not in this room of joy. It didn't belong. And he didn't belong. Nor did his _mother._

He tumbled backwards and crashed into the piano. It made a horrendous cry as pieces lodged out and strings plucked disgracefully.

Ahhh…

It was the end.

It was all over.

There wasn't even a curtain call.

It was instantaneous-

For everything to be ruined in an instant.

To be so unstable that he couldn't even stand in on the ground- it was borrowed time, just as it was borrowed space. A temporary shelter.

Unwanted.

He clung miserably onto the broken piano as he sobbed, looking utterly dishevelled. Bianchi didn't move closer, sadness etched onto her visage. There was no saving this, no saving her. They could have never been mother and son, having broken out of the act. The piano was the closest thing he could have to his mother right now. There were no tears that could be shed for a lost family because it was never to be acknowledged.

That piano was the property of the Mafia Boss.

* * *

In an ironic twist of fate, his escape from the family was without fanfare. He was not pursued and that grief that haunted him turned into rage and impatience, he was spiralling into self-destruction. It was so easy to fall into destruction with his mind easily supplying ways to ruin people.

The kindness that strangers offered seemed like it was Lavina's animated corpse and Gokudera just couldn't bare accepting it or paying it in similar terms. Caustic words were the immediate reaction as he lashed out, his heart hurting badly.

He picked up smoking to get a hold of his fraying nerves, anything to bum the pain out. The sweetened poison delivered by the tongues of people in the alleyway promised an easy way out, a way to sustain a livelihood with his depleting funds, payments that were too good to be true. Gokudera couldn't care less about the consequences as he chased after, work after work, the faces that twisted in pain, mania, hysteria, grief, madness, anger, fear…

It resonated deeply as he tried to matter to the callous Mafia that could throw the both of them away without as much as a second glance. As if the beautiful memories that he had accumulated were trash, as his body grew more and more beat up the more reckless, he became and the more unhinged he became as he could lose nothing… and gain nothing.

He had nothing in his hands from the start.

There was no eternity.

But they wouldn't acknowledge him regardless of his abilities.

Ironically, he fought and begged for their attention.

The murderers and pillagers of his treasure.

There was no worth to his life. He took suicide missions, bombs wrapped up around him, poison in a capsule inside his mouth. Yet his vitality was so strong, it wouldn't kill him, only leaving behind lacerations and scars that seem to catch up with his pain.

He was so trivial; he could even treat himself with that much disregard.

There was so much self-loathing that he stooped this low for those that destroyed what he wanted to protect- his dreams, his hopes, his future.

That… that was why when he saw Tsuna kneeling in front of the flower grave in front of their home, it struck parallels. Reborn's suit amplifying his silhouette and what it meant for the bomber.

He knelt down as he took the brunette in a hug. The look those auburn eyes gave were so similar to his younger self.

"You've done nothing wrong."

"Were you listening in on us…?"

"The walls aren't soundproof."

"Then you know what I did to you. Even still…?"

"You saved me. I wanted to do what I could do for my mother. I was too late, and I couldn't even repent or take revenge- I even had the tables flipped on me." It was a raspy voice choking on regret.

"…But I _made_ her live. And so selfishly at that."

"And what's wrong with that? I… didn't cling onto what I cherished.

…Because it was never mine.

There is a never-ending list of regrets that I can't fulfil. There are so many unfinished promises that we made. But I'm the only one left and I… can't fulfil them alone.

 _I… can't even touch the piano anymore_."

"There was never a future for us after what I did. I trapped us in the past."

"Do you mean the future where you would be the Vongola Boss? You wouldn't be doing so much different there. Its history is blood-soaked. The Mafia is so… so very selfish and selective about what they want to protect." Gokudera spoke bitterly. "As more memories pile up, you lose your priorities and the attachment and pain fade with time. It's the curse of human adaptability. Even if you take over Nana's legacy, the Mafia's currency is violence. They will treat you as Primo's successor as best, or Sawada Iemitsu's son, worse and Secondo's second coming at worst."

Tsuna could feel Gokudera's flames pulse in resonance with the little that leaked out of him.

"I… could only destroy and ruin anything, whether it was good or bad. You were the one to reach out to a me who's like this." The silverette gave him a sad grin. "But if you still say it was a bad move. I can help you set things right.

I believe in the eternity that you create. After all, what you create is harmony and that's the natural state of equilibrium, the most stable state which won't get deviated from. A constant and an eternity.

It's definitely possible. The universe ticks towards a heat death where everything is nothing and vice versa."

At Tsuna's look of hesitation, Gokudera brought the other's hand towards his chest. The hand had threads of sky flames, leaking from the brunette. It tried to reach the other and finally succeeded in doing so. Storm flames wrapped itself around the sky flames as it submitted completely. If Tsuna were to say something right now, that strong suggestion would be Gokudera's fate, half of his foot was already in his grave.

"I'm willing to surrender my everything to you, Tsuna so that I can accompany you in death and life."

Reborn looked furious. A dark look full of the promise of incoming pain as he saw the bomber deliberately encourage his disciple's habit. The storm flames were Gokudera's gun as they could resonate and amplify enough to disintegrate through the brunette's core given how inviting and accepting the other was being. A threat and the perfect collar.

The invisible golden tendrils that wrapped around Gokudera's essence intoxicated Tsuna. It spoke of a loyalty so deep that it could fill the gigantic pitfall that Tsuna dug and dug into from the harsh pangs of loneliness.

"Have you heard of Nash equilibrium in an adversarial game. In a game of a forger against a connoisseur, the best outcome is a 50-50 guess of which is fake and which is real. That's because at that point the difference between the two doesn't exist."

Tsuna took that as a reassurance for the dollhouse that he had created, but Reborn seethed at the implied message. The bomber must have gotten information of Rokudo Mukuro and the lifelike illusions he was capable of invoking.

Reborn mouthed a message- "Do you plan on betraying the Vongola?"

That would mean that he planned on using the illusionist for Tsuna's agendas, the ones separate from the Vongola's, ones that wouldn't lead to them having a stronger loyalty to each other through the Vongola. That and the illusionist who was in demand with the Vendice would create an enmity that the famiglia would struggle against, especially in these trying times.

It seemed like to untangle Tsuna from the webs he created, he had to deal with his guardians first. While he understood how the elements stayed loyal to the sky and what it stood for, this brought a lot of complications- especially when they validate each other like this.

Gokudera clutched the boy tightly into himself with enough strength that he could assimilate the brunette right into himself. His eyes gleamed with a deathly promise as he stood in between the piano room and the mansion that represented the encompassing, overarching Mafia.

This time… this time, he wouldn't fail them.

The future that was offered by Tsuna- he wouldn't let anyone take it away from them.


	7. Blowback

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to thank you guys for all the kudos and comments :D. Hope you enjoy the story and lemme know what you think.

Reborn nursed a glass of wine as he sat inside the covert bar in Namimori. The master had nerves of steel opening one in this town of all places, but because of that, he was more aware of the happenings of the town than the average citizen. It was great for gaining information as well as for a hideout – a place where he could piece together the slightly alarming information, he’d picked up to try and settle the situation down.

Things became sticky due to his protégé’s choices. The hitman was on a race against time as the Varia was a metaphorical ticking time bomb with Nono desperately playing ignorant due to his emotional ties. If he seriously trained Tsuna, giving him more ammunition, that would definitely be adding fuel to the fire- especially since it would be either Tsuna putting that knowledge to use or his guardians puppeteering him to do so.

His tiny fingers clutched on the listening chip he found in his disciple’s self.

‘It has Yamamoto’s fingerprints. That potential rain guardian’s behind the serial attacks against Tsuna’s bullies. I don’t think it has to do with a sense of justice, especially if he took damage as a price to control his accomplices… It speaks a lot for the possibility of Tsuna’s influence.

Gokudera definitely noticed it. From my viewpoint, it’s difficult to prove this conjecture, but that was the perfect time to establish communication with him- especially since their goals align somewhat.’

His eyes glinted. It wasn’t like he was out of options for the increasingly complicated situation- far from it- his title was one that was well earned.

‘The serial attacks have set off the hornet’s nest. That would make Hibari Kyoya neutral currently. But it would be better if Tsuna’s influence on him was reduced. That would mean that Irie would have to distance himself from the prefect.

It’s not only those two who use spying technology as a means to an end. Leon’s bug has been placed on Gokudera and his phone. Tsuna’s storm shouldn’t communicate with Iemitsu nor Mukuro, not if I’m playing the man in the middle. He won’t be able to use Yamamoto to do the same if I monitor the two and intervene if they try to share sensitive information. The rain guardian shouldn’t know for the same reason why dame-Tsuna’s not undergoing _tor_ \- training’ Reborn pouted.

‘The mission would have been so much fun~ But, first things first- damage control.

As for Yamamoto… Tsuyoshi might be the best person to use to tether him. I’m guessing convincing him would be easy. The man’s probably got his own suspicions regarding his son’s sudden switch to kendo. Any evidence to convince him would be practically handled on a silver plate as long as Hibari succeeds in his investigation.

Sasagawa Kyoko’s influence on her brother is potentially dangerous. Her brother is currently the only guardian’s that can be a positive influence on Tsuna’s growth.’ He sipped on his drink with a bitter smile. It was ironic how it was like the sun attribute, both his and the boxer’s interactions could be the only thing to break Tsuna from building the prison to trap himself for life. Rare as it was, Reborn did feel an increasing amount of concern for his student, especially since he was headfirst into what might as well be called self-sabotage. While it might align with Tsuna’s intentions currently, his other guardians were practically helping him to build his own coffin and burying him into it. Despite the two suns being as different as different could be, somehow, it was like being a sun fit them.

Call it a feeling of forbearance, one honed from his various brushes with death, but Reborn felt cautious about Sasagawa Kyoko’s ideas of protection. It was like seeing another version of his disciple being slowly choked into his future- current state. The hitman tilted his fedora to shade his eyes. _It was like seeing Luce all the way until her end._

To think that they were doing this in the name of love…

Leon curled comfortingly around Reborn as the baby stilled, rage sending wisps of sun flames, darkening as if to match with the blood-soaked nature of Mafia, one that hid in the shadows- far, far away from Primo’s dreams for Vongola. Then there was his student, the descendent of Primo, showing a potential to bring that dream to reality. And there was Nono, exhausted Nono, Nono who deeply admired Primo and what he stood for. The same Nono who rarely asked him for a favour, but was forced into a corner and had no choice but to do so. Finally, there was that idiot, Iemitsu who loved and protected his family in his own way.

Funny how there was so many things he had to protect right now, given his profession.

* * *

“Mochida-senpai’s in Namimori hospital right now.”

On hearing Yamamoto, Kurokawa hid the part of her that said it was what he deserved, after attacking Kyoko like that (the gall of him after stalking her like that for all those years) and replied bitterly,

“I’ve already heard already, Yamamoto. I’ve not been sleeping through all the incidents. The teachers have said time and again to be safe on the streets with the recent attacks. Why’re you even bringing this up?” She took a glance at her best friend who seemed engrossed in a chat with the other classmates, a couple of seats away.

“I’ve heard that his father’s been blowing a fuse in the parent-teachers committee meetup. He’s been saying that the school environment is far too dangerous for students and trying out stuff like suggesting to expel the disciplinary committee and Hibari-san-”

Kurokawa snorted at that.

“-by reasoning out that former delinquents would have no idea of maintaining peace, only making things worse. I guess he’s finally trying to increase his political influence, being Namimori’s official representative-”

“Wait, that idiot’s father was a politician?”

“I mean, how else would he have gotten away with so much in the school? He’s been paying a lot of donations to make the faculty turn the other way-”

“That’s not fair! That guy! He hit Kyoko, you know?! Do you know exactly how much he harassed her?! To think that he’s going scot-free-”

“Sorry, Kurokawa. I don’t think you’d like to hear this but, the staff are putting Sasagawa’s brother as the main culprit of that case-”

“That can’t be possible. There were so many witnesses in that case-”

“I think they’re using the fact that the crowd only showed up after you started yelling… It was either you or Sasagawa-senpai, and you’ve got great grades so…”

“…And the crowd had dispersed quickly because Hibari came to diffuse the situation, so they don’t have the full picture…” Kurokawa said with dawning horror. Sasagawa Ryohei had a bad track record, so hearing that he triggered the situation wouldn’t be hard to accept. The people who’d back him here would be the boxing club and his friends, but on the other hand, they’re familiar with the beef the two have with each other. Added on to that, Ryohei doesn’t explain the situation completely, so he’d get to the bare bones of it which doesn’t help him one bit. She herself was known for her antagonism towards him, not to mention losing her cool during that confrontation… Would she be taken seriously if she fought back against the accusation? Since when has Mochida’s father been working on clearing his son’s innocence? How much evidence would remain untouched?

Mochida, on the other hand, is respected for reasons Kurokawa doesn’t even want to comprehend even if it means she’d be treated like an idiot monkey. He’s known for being in ‘love’ with Kyoko and has her brother being overprotective of her. Not to mention, his father would hire someone with a snake’s tongue to defend his family’s reputation…

If she tried contesting it, without power and connections (the kind that made adults look away from her friend’s dilemma for ten years, the type that _Hibari_ possessed, but chose to wield it so idiotically.), what were her chances in this town that lived in a bubble?

Her lips curled into a deep frown as she gripped her knuckles tightly. She understood why Kyoko did that, even if she didn’t like it. But if violence was the only solution(if she had to be reduced into such a primal being, despite living in the modern society…), if it meant that Kyoko wouldn’t have to stoop to such lows and if Ryohei would turn a new leaf like how Kyoko wanted it…

As Yamamoto looked upon the conflicting emotions on Kurokawa’s face, his own face revealed a small smile.

* * *

Kusakabe sighed as he looked over the reports and files hung on the board as he marked connections and links that could lead him somewhere in the case. Hibari was napping on the terrace, leaving him to do the groundwork to give the other the juicy bits. It was always like this, but it never failed to make him complain a little to himself.

With Tsuna’s case, Hibari had put off bring the brunette to ‘justice’ to see if he’d do anything interesting like that again. But, it was only a matter of time before the prefect would get bored before finally doing so, or in his words, _biting the other to death_.

Kusakabe had his doubts on whether this incident, quick as it came and blew up, was related to that kid. It didn’t seem like it was Hibari’s style to be interested in mind games and tactical wars like that. So, what was he waiting for?

The current case was nasty. There was sightings of the same group of people, even if they weren’t always together near the places close to the incidents. While it was amateurish, the sportsmen from the different school didn’t seem to have a motive to target the group of people. If anyone had a motive, it would be Tsunayoshi. But it was way too late for the boy to do something for the situation that he had left going until now. There was also no link between the brunette and the sportsmen.

‘Those guys would be related to Yamamoto-kun, seeing that they were the team that the Namimori middle school were going against before he got into an accident. Why would he defend them if he knew who attacked him?

The ones who had gotten attacked were still in the Namimori hospital, with the institute being overwhelmed with the cases. It didn’t help that most of them haven’t come back to consciousness, except for Mochida-kun.’

Kusakabe looked towards the photos of the victims pinned onto the bulletin board like a sick analogy of a collection of pinned butterflies. The attacks were directed, aimed at inflicting as much pain as possible, like that group of amateurs were directed into it by someone. Shattered elbows, the place which was the strongest but had a high concentration of nerves; black and blue bruises on the stomach for the same reason. The attacks had no clear pattern in the injuries inflicted other than that. One of them, who had dreams of being a famous singer and actor, had their ear hit strongly with a metal bat, the diagnosis was that he’d never regain his sense of balance (affecting any possibility of graceful moves) along with a loss of hearing. The previous guy, with ambitions of being a basketball player, would have to undergo therapy to walk, but he’d never be able to run.

A straight-A student whose parents had great hopes to join Tokyo-U university, having done nothing but study in his free-time, attending an expensive tuition centre (costly enough to warrant loans that were a struggle to pay off). That student was hit on his head, suffered a concussion and retrograde amnesia (the doctors hesitated in telling the parents that it would be hard to determine whether the child could retain any information going forward, harder still about how much information he could retain from the past.)

One of them was an aspiring model, already taking gigs as a child model, sometimes appearing in the Namimori shopping malls posters. He was found in the place of his last shoot, an orchestra of recordings of backstage deals echoing around him, a plate with his pearly teeth(one of the reasons why he was popular, a dazzling and refreshing smile) extracted, one on a spoon near it. The teeth didn’t match up in number with one of an average child, and as feared, it was later found in his stomach and Kusakabe nauseously hypothesized that he was force-fed those, after hearing about abrasions in his mouth and throat, indicative of force. There were anaesthetics still in his system, so he could only put together that this was done with him conscious throughout. Needless to say, the former delinquent couldn’t keep it down after hearing that.

Weirdly enough, the cases without bat imprints invoked no form of recognition from the sportsmen, so it meant the ones who were more in contact with the brunette were personally handled. It made sense because they were horrific enough to warrant someone with a grudge or cold-heartedness of a high level to pull off something like this.

Kusakabe had a piercing headache about revealing the information about the culprits who looked as terrified as ones who were threatened into this looked like. They kept their mouths silent and Kusakabe could only hope that Hibari would gain enough interest, in this case, to beat the information out of them.

Surprisingly, Mochida Kensuke was the one who was mostly unaffected by this case. He was currently kept in the hospital for a night of surveillance to check for any symptoms that could strike later. If the victims were Tsuna’s bullies, then wouldn’t it make the kendo captain the biggest target if they were ordered in the level of impact they had on the brunette. Kusakabe hated to describe it like this, but the killer seemed to be Tsuna’s _guardian angel_.

Trying to keep his mind off the gruesome state of the victims, Kusakabe looked towards his phone, hoping for Irie Shoichi to get back to him with the evidence and his view of the case. It was like their roles were switched all of a sudden. This time, it was the Elvis-wannabe nervous with a painful stomachache. Irie had one look at the case file before looking uncharacteristically serious, with any and all of his cowardice vanish from him.

“I’ve seen these guys before. They were the guys who used to bug Tsuna and I when they spotted us hanging out. Then they immediately took the robot prototypes we were trying out together- hey don’t look at me like that, you’d understand the brilliance of a Gundam suit if we were able to complete it! But those guys- those guys took it as a big joke, stuffing it like a turkey. Just because we’ve been locked there before…”

Kusakabe had given Irie a pitying look which the other hurriedly countered by saying,

“Look, just because we were easy targets, it didn’t mean we just took it. A year ago, we brainstormed and bought a heck lot of grapes from the market and Tsuna dumped a pack of yeast, which his mom bought, into it and we stepped on it with a vengeance. We wore socks that were at least one year old, Tsuna’s had moss and some random culture growing off it.

Just imagine, after we let it ferment for a night, all we had to do was replace the contents of the juice full of our smelly feet with their juice packets and wait.”

“This sounds awfully familiar… Wait, then it was you guys fault that we apprehended them for illegal alcohol consumption?!”

Irie looked awfully proud for slinking between the line of prank and alcohol poisoning, with memories of them having apple-red cheeks that could give blushing maidens a run for their money, wobbling around like Bambi while not being able to put together even one insult on the sight of them. He coughed and continued,

“That was just a prank and surprisingly, we got away with it, but it was never at this level. Well, it’d be utterly distasteful to call it one…” and then he muttered, “Seriously, one after the other. I won’t let things get worse.” It was a promise.

* * *

Hibari was pissed off, to say the least. The broken spirits that were present in the hospital irritated him to no end, making them sink lower than even herbivores. Right in his turf. It even taunted him with the illusion that Tsunayoshi was the one behind the case- that weak herbivore.

Careless evidence that leads them straight to the ‘culprits’ who were nothing more than sheep. His eyes picked up on it immediately, the listening bug clipped haphazardly on their hair. It probably was the type to trigger and send a signal if removed. Irie mentioned that as long as it remained, it was possible to trace it back to the source, the mastermind behind the case.

But because of that, they were in a standstill, the mastermind right before them hearing them making progress in the case while placating those herbivores. To them, the disciplinary committee and the one behind this might as well be choosing between a rock and a hard place- but at the very least one of them wasn’t their enemy outright. It was obvious that if the connection broke, the other was planning on making the situation much, much worse for those guys while maybe absolving himself of any and all guilt.

Mochida Kensuke was probably the bait for them to show that if they played along, they’d get away without the horrific damage. Those herbivores had grown pale white when they saw what happened to those victims. After all, it triggered his father to make a threat on the disciplinary committee. **_It had been a long time since someone had the guts to stand up against him._**

Hibari would like to give them something _much worse_ if they thought the one pulling this shit was somehow more intimidating than himself. He darkly grit his teeth in a seething rage. While the bugs were one of the trace to the puppeteer, there was another one, hidden in the case evidence but it was better for leading the other into thinking that there was the only way to reach him.

If Irie didn’t find it, Hibari would personally bite him to death for leaving that guy to stay smug for so long. Tsuna’s connection to this was one of the strongest incentives for that redhead to give it his all, and if he still couldn’t manage that, then Hibari would have to put him out of his misery- dragging that guilt along. It was Hibari doing a favour for him, so he better pay his dues.

Until then, it was time for them to see that they couldn’t do as they please, taking him for a ride. It was plain as hell to see that they had an obsession with Tsunayoshi. In that case, regardless of whether it was the brunette taking upon his provocation to see exactly how far he could go or him being another victim of this case, it was only natural that Hibari bit him to death.


	8. The curtain closes for the next opening act

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heya, hope you guys enjoy the story. The chapter is gonna lead to a new mystery with this time, the culprit being mystery. Can you guess who dun it? Lemme know what you think

Kusakabe looked up as the door to the disciplinary committee room opened with a bang as an irate Hibari Kyoya marched right in before unceremoniously dumping a bruised Tsunayoshi who looked like he was beaten to an inch of his life. He gave the slumping brunette a look of utter distaste before turning around and leaving the two alone in awkward silence.

‘I guess Kyo-san finally got tired of waiting for something to happen.’ He looked at the kid who excluded gloom and doom, which was atypical of the people who Hibari came after. Usually, they’d look like an utterly spooked cat, zapped with enough electricity to bring Frankenstein to life. Instead, the kid seemed way too lost in his own thoughts and that could be the reason why Hibari was so irritated after being belittled that way.

“So… do you know anything about the recent serial targeting of Namimori students?” Kusakabe was a bit curious to see what kind of ‘mastermind’ the kid, who Hibari seemed to be advocating for, was. That and there were clear ties to Tsunayoshi that was hard to ignore.

The kid simply shook his head, no form of recognition flinting across his eyes. The older teen sighed in disappointment before asking, “What about the guy who’s living with you? Do you what he’s up to?” that silver-haired guy was the one who picked a fight with Kyo-san before losing horribly right? It was worth asking to see if he had any hand in the case.

Tsuna’s auburn eyes grew dull as he remembered raising an uncertain hand to grip the other’s shirt when he was close to the door. Gokudera looked at him apologetically before saying that it was only a quick errand and that he’d be back soon, before his eyes focused on something beyond that door, likely entering a world that was far from the one that Tsuna himself lived in. The shirt wrinkled slightly as it freed itself from his touch as Gokudera turned completely around, his form no longer reflecting in those emerald eyes as the former moved outside the house, the very place Reborn effectively called a prison, a gilded cage that now held no-one(but once held the silhouette of his mother).

The home tutor who harshly pulled the warm and comfortable carpet right from under him, leaving him to tumble and crash into the mud and earth of reality, was nowhere to be found. He simply left him to wake up in his own time, despite waking him up in harsh, death-inviting methods as a form of training. As if dreaming a bit longer would give him a bit of escape from the situation, even if it meant that he had to face the apparitions and warping reflections of his desires and hopes, the very ones which were dashed again and again. All they did was not even give him a place to stand, the floor under him crushed all the way until the foundations.

Seeing the state of the brunette in front of him, Kusakabe could understand why Irie was so worried for him.

* * *

Reborn looked at the black-haired girl in front of him who looked at him with a scrunched nose and a scowl. It seemed like she was not good with children, disliking them for whatever reason. It didn’t matter, the toddler had things to do regardless, so he said,

“Kurokawa Hana, you might want to reconsider your options. Rather than asking me about my identity, I think the topic of interest might be whether or not you should commit a crime for your friend, don’t you think?”

The girl flapped her mouth like a fish, conflicted about where to begin. Reborn inched closer to remove the listening bug from her bag to show it to her. “Looks like someone already got an eye, rather an ear, on you. It’s not an issue anymore” he said, crushing the device and showing a part that could be used for picking up sound as proof.

“Wha- when did that get placed there?!”

“Would you believe me if I said that was your friend, Yamamoto? He’s placed on Tsuna too. I was able to notice it since we live together.” He said showing an identical device which smelled a little burned. The Sun Arcobaleno had fried the circuits so that it wouldn’t be able to turn on.

“That idiot?! There’s no way!” she screeched, suspicious eyes that roamed around his tiny figure.

“Hmm. I think you’re in for the shock of your life when Hibari finishes his investigation. Or if you’re curious enough to approach me later, I can reveal things since I’m a really nice and cute kid.

But right now, don’t you think you’re being a bit hasty? I’ve heard that your dad’s a doc in Namimori Hospital, and one high enough to warrant you moving around there and having access and knowledge to the medicine stored there along with patients’ rooms and information. Well, the hospital itself is pretty lax in security, but you have an advantage in information.”

Seeing the knowing glint in the child’s eyes, Kurokawa frowned as she accused, “What do you even know? You’ve not seen Kyoko and her big bro like I’ve seen. I won’t be satisfied with that jerk benefitting from the situation.”

“Do you honestly think that Mochida Kensuke’s father can one-up Hibari?”

“But he’s not doing anything right now. I’m not putting my faith in that violent guy. He’s always been fickle, and he can act as the protector of Namimori, but he might as well be the resident Yakuza. He and his stupid food pyramid hierarchy with herbivore this and herbivore that.”

“Then it’s even more strange that he’s not preserving that hierarchy with one trying to usurp him, don’t you think? Why do you think I brought up the listening bugs? I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that the culprit and the committee are in an impasse with each other watching the other’s movements.”

“That Hibari playing a waiting game? Pfft, that’d be the joke of the century.”

“It’s because he doesn’t know who’s listening in.”

“And you know and are not informing them for…?”

“He’s got his own intel. I’ve got my own plans with how to approach the situation. I wanted to tell you all this so that you can decide your own stance instead of being pushed around according to someone’s whims. You’re smart after all.”

Kurokawa huffed a tired sigh as she put things into perspective. With how Yamamoto was egging her on by saying things that painted a bleaker and bleaker picture, never once trying to dissuade her from what would definitely be a crime… Then there was this kid who popped into her life out of nowhere and bombarding her with shocking information, but not giving her any suggestion on what to do despite commenting on her intended course of action.

“…I take it you’d not like it if I spilt the beans to Hibari?”

“They’re playing a waiting game for a reason after all. The stakes of it don’t lie on who gets caught so simply doing so won’t give Hibari the satisfaction. In fact, I don’t think Hibari can gain any of it by beating up the people who’ve caused the situation and ones before it.”

Kurokawa chose not to hear more about the situation. There seemed to be a story, but she’d have her plate full from trying to protect what she has right now. She had to think more about how she’d approach this situation, especially since there was a possibility that she was being manipulated. Not that she trusted the kid in front of her.

* * *

“I think Kyo-san caught you and brought you here to apprehend you for killing your mother. Why did you do that?”

“…crime… Right. That’s what you’d normally call it, right?

Somehow, nothing really worked out.”

“For all that’s worth, it’s pretty hard to call it a crime too, since I’ll bet if Irie-kun hears this, he’ll immediately try to take the blame for it. Also, it was your mom who lived through it, despite suffering during it. Maybe she was ignorant of what was causing it, or maybe she didn’t want to acknowledge that it was her son who was knowingly poisoning her.”

“It would have been better if she was doing that for my sake, but until the very end, she didn’t really put me in her eyes.

Did you know? She always saw dad through me and had this look of disappointment when I started being so clumsy and incompetent in ways that dad could never be. Dad was pretty sloppy too, but I guess, since love’s blind, she could only see that as pretty loveable.”

“Did you do that for attention? I think she loved you in her own way.”

Tsuna grimaced at the idea of calling her for attention, for all her airheadedness. That willful ignorance that she carried around with her to warp her world into that filled with a positive take of any situation. “The things which stuck around with my world were the ones that were filled with violence. Dad’s painful ‘expressions of love’ as mom called it, Nedzu’s harsh reprimands and punishments for being a bad student.

Mochida and the others who beat me up for my weakness that I could never hide. He taught me many things, that people could understand what I got because of what I am. It was always natural, but I never reciprocated and then it went away, from Mochida to the other friends I had.

When I tried to reach out for the kindness that was extended to me, it never could stay with me. Because that wasn’t natural progression of things as Mochida taught me. Without violence, things would never stick with me, because everyone had their own agendas and I’ve never provided the incentive for it to stick around.”

Reborn, who needed a successor to the most violent organization and didn’t stick around when he was here, far too shaken to be the person who inevitably hurt those dear to him for a chance to be loved so deeply. His mother who loved his father so doggedly, leaving him behind for a broken heart. Those days where she had wallowed in grief and self-pity for not even realizing that her lover had left her far behind- those were the days where she truly only had him and wouldn’t be able to survive if Tsuna(clumsy, useless Tsuna- what were the chances that an opportunity like that would ever happen again- where Tsuna was so important and relevant to a person’s life) didn’t completely take care of her needs. Before that, she might even be happier with him out of her hair.

Turns out, it was the worst way he could have treated her. But the way he had been, chasing after that fleeting emotion, was the version of him that was able to get people to look back at him. Reborn, who couldn’t take his eyes off his prone being, observing him from the time they met. Then, there was Gokudera, who gave him the warmest hug he’d ever experienced (It was truly rare for him for someone to touch him without giving him pain). He reached back, not knowing what to do to get him to stay, frayed around the edges like he had been only to watch him leave right out the door. Was it wrong to grip his clothes? It was always fists that shoved him right against the wall to pin him to a place. His mom’s angry gaze and sharp tone, when he scored horribly. He should have known better- her soft tunes and cheerful expression always bid him farewell for a ‘good day at school’ or a type of signal to get him to go back to his room or do errands for her and such (far from her physically). If he had lingered, that smile would drop as she would inquire, puzzled “What’re you still doing here?”, “What’re you waiting for?”.

His feet were to keep moving, a destination in mind. It simply wouldn’t do to wander aimlessly and fruitlessly. His friends would catch him and teach him a lesson and the pain always stuck with him, berating him for doing so. But Tsuna was always a lost child, his mother’s disgruntled look of exasperation as she nagged him to not do it again.

Yamamoto, whose figure didn’t enter his field of sight since the time he offered friendship with him.

“…If you have to ask why I did it, it would probably be… because I was lonely.”

Tsuna had to hide choked laughter after seeing Kusakabe looking at him, aghast. He supposed it was something that couldn’t be attributed to a person like him. A reward that anyone would be reluctant to award him since it’d be akin to punishment to themselves.

After all, any form of company that he could earn for himself was one that was manipulated by the leaking, pathetic flames of harmony. Gokudera mentioned that he could possibly get his mother back by some means, but what Tsuna wanted… was an eternal, unchanging, unbending, pure form of love. When his mother died, she wasn’t present to correct his misunderstanding that she was the person who Tsuna kept alive. They were everything to each other at that point. After all, even if she could have misgivings about it, he was the love child of her darling and herself, a proof of their love.

It made him bitter, how a person who didn’t have any presence in their home, didn’t leave anything behind to remember him by would be the one that occupied her mind so thoroughly. Tsuna was once stricken in jealousy by the friendship and tokens of love that people bestowed each other. Tsuna himself loved and pined after people who spared him glances. But the ones that stood by him, burrowed itself into the skin as bluish and blackish, burn and scar marks remained with the blood that poured out of him (the liquid that his choking heart pumped). It was ungrateful of Tsuna for trying to ignore what he already had- his privilege.

His friends themselves up and vanished from him, landing themselves in hospital having become victims of violence- the very same that had gotten sick and tired of him taking it for granted. His bruises even started to heal, a pleasant blankness that surrounded him.

Hibari had found him in front of the garden, away from the empty house that held no-one prisoner and complied with his dirty, defiling wishes, and proceeded to raise his tonfa to rain upon him. His every complaint, every misgiving and the traitorous part of his mind that wanted to be coddled escaped him with wheezes as the tonfas knocked the wind of his sails. He crouched and curled into himself to protect himself from the pain, but Hibari placed a kick to break that stance before uppercutting him to a broken standing position. Then as if mocking him for holding those thoughts ready for release through the wind along his voicebox, the steel rods descended upon his ribs like a hawk going for the kill. The tears that flood his eyes as a response to the blinding pain invoked a “Tch” from the demon of Namimori as he neatly finished that move with an elbow to his face.

Unsatisfied from seeing the crumpled form of the brunette on the floor, Hibari lifted him up via the collar and inspected his face. It was always like this when he got used to peace. When something happened, his body would be so unused to pain that everything would hurt twice as much. Breathing was a struggle when suspended mid-air like this and his arms scrambled to the lithe, yet powerful arms holding him up. Hibari looked disgusted as he flung the brunette towards the wall and his head banged against the wall- with that, the circling thoughts vanished as pain bloomed all over his body. His vision was dimming, the world around him dampening in colours, becoming utterly stale. His ears were ringing, washing away the pretty birds’ songs and the rustling of leaves.

‘Ah… that’s right, isn’t it? This is friendship.’

Look, the red that was leaking out of him was the same colour as those hearts in Valentine, the day of love.

* * *

Reborn came across Irie who surprisingly didn’t seem that shocked to see him. He clicked his tongue, realizing that Gokudera probably got to him first, seeing that they were acquainted once before. The bomber should have come directly to this place to talk to him. The signal was weak around this room, probably because the group were using signal blockers to prevent Yamamoto from somehow wiretapping them.

“I’m Reborn, Tsuna’s tutor. I think it’s only fair to introduce myself since I’ve already heard of you, Irie Shoichi.”

Irie looked at him with the bewilderment an adult would have finally seen Big Foot or Santa Claus. He was surrounded by monitors, probably supplied by the disciplinary committee, with a wired encrypted connection for communication. The displays had CCTV recordings of probably the time Yamamoto contacted the guy, which were being restored and matched against to narrow down on the suspects. There were files with photos that could contain biometrics from the scenes, ones that they would have rounded up. There was also signal tracers from multiple bugs to triangulate the location where the mastermind was found. And as he thought, it narrowed down that Yamamoto was their guy.

“Now that you guys found him, what are you planning to do?”

Irie spoke wryly, “They’re going to do a pincer on Yamamoto-kun and Mochida-san’s dad to appease Hibari’s rage, what else? I’m not interested in what those guys do with those two. At least there was one who can be left out of this whole mess. I don’t like Mochida-san from personal grudges, but he didn’t deserve that.”

“Oh, I’ve made sure to wrap up that end. I wonder why you’re being so open with me. I don’t think Gokudera would paint me in a favourable light.”

“Don’t bother sussing me out for my ‘allegiance’. I’m not on your or his side. The information here has been sent to Hibari already.”

“That’ll make things proceed pretty smoothly then.”

“Wasn’t he the precious candidate for the rain guardian?”

“He still is. The choice is based on who Tsuna accepts to clear things up. This was just necessary to prevent him from going over the rails. Vongola’s not as bad as Gokudera’s painting it to be.”

“The Mafia’s justifying itself? I can’t trust the standards of the guy who’s renown as the World’s greatest hitman.”

“And your alternative is listening to the guy who’s the Mafia’s lapdog?”

“…I don’t think you two understand me. I’m not on either of your sides, so trying to win me over as a pawn to play against each other is not going to work out for either of you. I’m willing to make a statement with my actions if that’s what it takes to make that clear.”

“Your move against Gokudera has been made right now. I think I can still convince you to stop making one against me after all that title’s not just for show.

Vongola’s not looking for another generation of a bloodbath. Despite what it became, it was once a Vigilante group. The current generation’s vision is to revert back to its roots.”

“I’m thinking you want to convince me to take your side so that you have a way to control the three, and potentially four from going against your plans. Are you that impressed by the way I’ve been able to track Yamamoto?”

“For an aspiring _musician_ , that’s a pretty impressive feat.”

“You shouldn’t be. Frankly speaking, shouldn’t you be suspicious at how I’m able to do all this? Speech matching and video reconstruction along with other technology. It’s a bit disheartening, but it’s revealed things at a bigger scale than what’s happening right now.

For this time only, I’m taking quite the pleasure for being the bearer of the bad news. I don’t think you’ve prevented anything, Reborn. Also, if it’s not feasible for me to have this level of technology and skill by myself, _who do you think helped me_?”

Reborn’s countenance turned sour as a murderous aura started leaking out of him.

“I didn’t think that you would establish contact with him.” Faced with such intimidation, Irie’s face was a deadpan as he continued with a grave tone,

“We met up due to similar interests. There are conferences, online meetups and hackathons and projects and such. But to be precise, I was introduced to him through Spanner-kun and Giannini-kun. Fascinating how by mentioning you, he went out on a limb to help me set all this up to catch Yamamoto. It seems like the actions you’ve taken up, given the situation has made him realize that this is as good of an opportunity against you as any.

Gokudera sacrificed a couple of pieces for a checkmate against you after telling me about you, going so far to explicitly mention that you were trying your best to control them. That was just this morning and the results are before your eyes. Until then the committee only thought that these pieces of evidence could catch him, but no way of actually doing so.

It seems that Yamamoto picked up quite a bunch of nasty tricks from his father. I think his father is more interested in protecting and preserving his family rather than in doing what’s right.

Gokudera intended on revealing the information to me to make me turn a blind eye against the crimes because of its close links to Tsuna and that Yamamoto and he were friends. I’ve simply revealed all the information.”

“Aren’t you playing right into his hands by bringing _Verde_ into this?”

Irie gave him a crooked smile as he replied,

“I’ve said it before. Verde’s my _gift_ to you and Hibari getting to rain on Yamamoto’s parade is my play against Gokudera” his voice bled anger as he continued, “Honestly, what’s with you guys? Don’t you think Tsuna-kun’s already got enough on his plate without you guys selfishly dragging him into your matters?

You guys trying to _fix_ him is utterly ridiculous. What can the _Mafia_ fix? It’s been _unbearable to just watch him have all this happen to him and you want me to help you?_ ”

Reborn looked at him with his beady eyes that sunk in all light as he said, “If you’re making things this clear, it makes things much simpler for me. While Verde is a pain in the ass, I can still handle the situation. There’s only so little you can do when all your moves whittle away as they’re dealt with.

When it comes to that, you won’t even be able to plead the fifth.”

* * *

Meanwhile, in the Namimori Hospital, a bemused Hibari stood in front of the bed of Mochida Kensuke. Kusakabe was on the phone line mentioning that they were able to successfully apprehend Yamamoto and bring him to the disciplinary room, asking him repeatedly about their next move.

Hibari closed the call immediately as he stared at the scene in front of him. He didn’t like to admit it, but his town was changing, and he was being shoved into new territory. It seems like what was needed right now was to win the war of information.

Mochida Kensuke was dead in front of him, stitches made of beautiful satin as they wove beautiful designs in the places where the previous victims were injured, like badges of honour. In fact, on closer inspection, that was the case. The kendo captain had become the living analogy of the Theseus ship. The beds of each of the victims were the crimson of a red carpet, dyed in the blood that would have come from the transplanting processes.

Each and every one of them was heavily drugged with morphine to simply allow this to be done to them. They were then sown to fluff up the bed where Mochida lay upon, his expression indicating how aware he was about the contents of his resting place. Maybe he had personally witnessed the dyeing process of his bed.

There were eerily realistic-looking dolls on the beds of the others, realistic enough that it wouldn’t arouse the suspicions of the nurses and staff. On closer inspection, the dolls seemed to have been made and perfected for months or even years.

Three days. That was all it took for things to progress this far. The medical staff were too busy to check in with the guests, answering the disciplinary committee and busy with the plan undergoing on Kurokawa Hana’s side to see this coming. Seems like the two sides getting suspicious of each other and maybe even looking into Yamamoto and his lackeys were intentional. It kept them all busy enough to let something of this scale slip right through.

It didn’t help that the patients were originally drugged with painkillers due to the severity of the crimes – but certainly not enough to warrant live, open ‘surgery’. The soft and aromatic scent from the candles around the bed was a poor replacement for respecting the dead with incense.

It wasn’t like the crimes that Yamamoto had committed that easily showed his ugly jealousy, but it was one that displayed a great deal of showmanship, eager to depict death as something beautiful, as each and every part was decorated to distract people from the underlying gruesomeness of the corpses. There was even care to prevent maggot infestation.

Hibari wondered what that made Tsunayoshi if he triggered violence strong enough to metamorphose herbivores. Or maybe it was Hibari who had the misunderstood view that herbivores were utterly harmless.

It seemed like this time, it was a win for Yamamoto. Especially since now, everything was going to be swept under a rug.


	9. To throw a monkey wrench

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter went longer than I thought it would lol.  
> Hope you guys like the story and lemme know what you think of the story progress :)

Tsuna was surprised to see the newest addition to the room. Kusakabe looked nonplussed to see completely uninjured committee members dragging Yamamoto inside. The former ace spoke jovially,

“You don’t have to look so surprised, Kusakabe-senpai. I’m not interested in getting people who’re not very related to my cause involved.” He then continued with a deep tone when he looked at the brunette, “Though, that doesn’t seem to be true in your case.”

“Yamamoto-kun? What’re you doing here?”

“Tsuna! It surely must be fate that we’ve been able to meet again, ahahaha. Sorry that I’ve not been able to come to you sooner, there were a lot of things going on.

I’m here for the same reason you’re here. I just _had_ to join you, but there wasn’t much of an excuse to do so, so I made sure things got to a point that I could even get a _personal invitation_ to meet up with you. Well, it’s not like the things I did to get here weren’t fun.”

He then circled around Tsuna, giving him a thorough lookover as Kusakabe tiredly went over the briefing for the situation with the others. As he dismissed the disgruntled delinquents who didn’t get the fight they were itching for, instead of meeting up with a boring, unconditional surrender; he looked back at the two who were behind the recent strings of his ever-growing headaches.

“If I knew that Hibari-san would do this, I would have played with those guys… Then we could have matching bruises.” Yamamoto pouted.

“Wait… Yamamoto-kun, are you the one behind the hospitalization of the Namimori middle school students?”

“They keep calling it with different names, all of them are utterly boring. I prefer to call it a game of whacking the mole. After all, they keep bugging you.

Tsuna, you too. You’ve got to _take good care for yourself._ I’ve no problem in taking care of any more that pop up around you, but _Hibari-san?_ That’s a tall order, haha.”

“I don’t suppose you’d be willing to say more about what you’ve been up to, huh?” Tsuna said bitterly. He wanted to know, why. Just why would he target his long-time friends? It had been like he was slowly being untethered, with every weight that grounded him (crushing him under) slowly detaching themselves from him. Would they still hang out with him after having all that happen to them? His mom left him alone after he tried to forcibly get noticed.

“Hmm? That’s fine with me. I’ll answer anything and everything you want to know.”

Kusakabe whipped his head towards Yamamoto so fast that it gave him whiplash.

“Huh?” was the only coherent response Tsuna could muster at that candid response.

“It was all for you, so I’d love it if you knew everything about it, down to the very last details~ But not here. It’s a bit rude to Hibari-san, but the disciplinary committee room’s not very comfortable. So we can talk about in, slowly, as long as you like back home.

Gokudera went ahead and is waiting for us to come back. He said he was feeling bad that he left you all alone, so he decided to at the very least, wait for you to come back so that he could be there to welcome you home. Isn’t that cute?”

“Yes… that would be great?”

Kusakabe frowned as he said, “You’re talking as if we’d let you prance back after what you’ve pulled.”

“Hmm. I think you’d have second thoughts on that when Hibari-san comes back with an update of the situation.”

As the former delinquent narrowed his eyes at that, the door slammed open as Hibari marched in, looking utterly furious.

“You herbivores don’t know exactly what you’re dealing with, committing murder right inside my town, right under my watch” he hissed.

“To be fair, you’re just as clueless about what’s happening in town right now.”

Tsuna looked incensed as he watched Yamamoto quip joyfully at the other.

* * *

Reborn morphed Leon into his personal phone as he dialled Bianchi.

“Reborn? It’s great to hear from you, darling. It’s been so long, too long in fact- I’ve been quite lonely without my daily hugs and kisses.”

“Hello, Bianchi. I’ve been meaning to call you in some time. Nono’s assignment has been keeping me busy for some time.”

“Ah~ It’s times like this that the age-old question rings so true. I’ve always been so jealous of your work, given how much attention you give it.”

“This time, I think I won’t be keeping you waiting. What do you think of visiting Namimori and giving me a hand in my work? Your little brother’s here too, so you two can catch up meanwhile too.”

“That sounds absolutely lovely!~ I’m coming there ASAP!”

Reborn chuckled as he replied, “Oh, I think that enthusiasm is shared.”

That'll help with dealing with the bomber and keeping that mutt down. He still had to figure out where that unknown variable came about- it was very rare that something caught him unaware like this. The last time this happened, it was at the Arcobaleno trial. It was a bad sign, but to put a positive spin, it might be one of the biggest leads they’ve had so far.

But still, after so many years and Luce, with Aria now… It was hard to keep hope.

Irie, on the other hand, played both against their hands and right into it, when looking at it from another perspective. Gokudera couldn’t have been so blind so as to not even see what would come from that animosity with the Mafia along with how the other intended to protect his friend from that influence. Reborn entered the place through his hidden channels, but it was hard to believe that the Bomber would simply enter and exit the premises with a potentially damning negotiation.

Reborn could read it from a mile away that the ginger would try to achieve mutual destruction of his enemies. He’d bet that the kid wouldn’t reveal all that he’d seen with the help of Verde, especially if it’d potentially hurt Tsuna. Hibari’s not going to get vital evidence for the case from him, and neither can Reborn. Verde would know, but negotiating information from him…

Reborn whined insufferably. Even if the other would have it in his best interests to reveal that information, he doubted that the guy would do so, being insufferably smug in having one over the _great Reborn_. Not to mention, now his hidden channels could be compromised – especially the electronic ones.

One of his options were to drag Fon into this and play the middleman, especially since he came here in that strange costume (who’s he to talk though) to occasionally check up on his pupil and that little nephew of his (not that Hibari would ever appreciate it). Now that Reborn thought about it, maybe he didn’t have to bring it up- if Hibari gets cornered enough, maybe he’d seek the other himself- though it was very, _very_ unlikely. What could happen, could be that Fon sticks his nose into this for that nephew of his.

Yamamoto’s one of the keys in this case, to be specific, it could be his connections. But who benefitted from helping him out? And How? Reborn’s first clue here could be how Namimori Middle School had to be closed (a sudden but warranted decision given that its students were dropping like flies) in lights of the murders- and that Hibari had chosen to agree with that decision to hunt those who were involved in this.

He turned around to see Kurokawa Hana, looking like she’d be anywhere but here with the sheer reluctance radiating out of her. “I’ve come to cash in on your offer. Tell me everything about what’s going on. We can share information.”

Excellent.

* * *

Kyoko hummed to herself as she locked the door, the entrance to the outside world and practically pranced, hopping and skipping as she went further indoors to see her big brother lounge on the sofa, upside down in utter boredom.

“I’ve received contact from the school. They said that the school’s temporarily closing down due to the recent events. Of course, that means no club activities in the meanwhile. The teacher told us to stay safe and stay indoors as much as possible. Dad and mom agree, so you should heed the advice clearly, ok, big bro?”

“It’s going to be sooo boring… Kyokooo how are you so peppy? This means that you’re not going to meet up with your friends.”

“It’s for everyone’s safety, so it can’t be helped.”

“I’m feeling so jittery. What if I go to the clubroom and borrow some of the equipment?”

“No means no, big bro. It’s been so unsafe outside recently. So, we’ve got to do what we can to keep ourselves safe.” Yes, her brother had to stay here and not go outside and fight against the world, slowly whittling away against its harshness. He certainly shouldn’t get caught up in the schemes that Yamamoto and Tsuna hatched. It was also for that reason why Kyoko gave _that information_ to that jock- a price for a safe haven from his wrath. She couldn’t bring herself to regret that decision regardless of the deaths that came about it- they only further cemented how dangerous that boy was. She didn’t want the two to be on his wrong end.

“I know! I’ll lend Hibari a hand. He’s bound to be drowning in work given how things turned out! That guy doesn’t know anything about limits.”

‘Wait, what?!

Just wait a minute. You’re the one in no position to talk about adhering to limits!’

“B-big bro, listen to me. I’m sure Hibari can handle the situation by himself.” All that guy had to do was apprehend Yamamoto, he already physically caught him- she had heard from friends that TakeSushi had been closed. Of course, they thought that it was closed to discourage people from wandering about right now, but she knew better. Then the danger factor would reduce drastically.

“Yep, I’m sure that guy would be able to. But since we’ve been pals for quite a long time, I think he’d love the help! I can even get the guys from the boxing club to join in- they have quite the sense of justice and are just itching to help.”

Hibari and Ryohei’s bonds were… how to put it, quite one-sided in some sense (though, any relation with Hibari is like that). Hibari probably considered Ryohei as the unwanted, unrelenting ‘friend’ that he just gave up and let be. Ryohei considered their interactions as one akin to training sessions, never failing to cement himself as a giant nuisance on Hibari’s end.

“I know just what to do. I’ll get Yamamoto to pitch in. That guy’s got a lot of connections, so he might have guesses onto potential witnesses.”

If Kyoko could, she would bash her head into the wall until this situation would blacken out of its existence. This was just courting disaster.

“Wait! Uh, I think Yamamoto-kun might not be able to participate. His dad seems pretty serious about this self-isolation thing. You know, he closed the shop and all.

If you go to him, it's undoing that thought since you’d be dragging Yamamoto-kun outside to do all that. That and the culprit might target him instead of looking into this. Hibari-san would be fine even if he was the main target, but other people…”

“Hmm, I don’t really get it. I’ll head to the disciplinary committee.”

But that’s where Yamamoto would probably be in. It’d be the start of mayhem if they run into each other there!

“No! No, no no no. If you go one step outside the door, I’m calling mom and dad!” It was supposed to be her brother safe in this house. Her brother couldn’t do this to her, not after all she did to get them here. Even if it’d be great if they were here, away from the world that only caused pain and suffering to those who lived in it, forever and ever. Did she need to get a chain? The key to the lock was utterly useless.

“Great idea, Kyoko! They can rally the neighbours to hold a Namimori-wide watch!”

Kyoko would not let Ryohei go into this even if that meant that she would have to cling to his angles and physically slow him down as he would drag her around the floor to go anywhere.

“You know, Kyoko. I’ve thought about it, but I think that it’ll only be right to ask Yamamoto if he’d lend a hand. I’ve heard from him that he’s become pals with Sawada Tsunayoshi-kun, that kid from your class.

Seeing the guys who got injured, don’t you think that he’s involved in this in some way? I think Yamamoto’d like to be involved in this if it’s only for that kid’s case.

Also, if everyone’s getting involved to protect each other, it’s more effective as a measure, even if it’s in small ways like keeping a watch. After all, isn’t it a bit lonely for everyone to simply watch their backs? We can have each other’s backs, after all, we’re all in this together!

Wasn’t there a new kid here too? We could get him to take a part of this so that he can experience the community first-hand. He must feel a bit lonely being in a completely new environment.”

That’s somewhat logical, but still!!! It’s wrong!!! You’ve got it all wrong!!!!

* * *

Tsuna eyed the teacup set on the table which had chamomile tea bags near it. What the guys in front of him needed, was to relax. Maybe preparing and drinking it could help. The tension was palpable in the air as the three faced off each other.

Seeing Tsuna’s line of sight as he was (forcing himself to be) distracted from the seriousness of the situation, Yamamoto went ahead with the mistaken request as he started setting up the start of a strange teatime.

Weirdly enough, Hibari seemed to approve of this skewed priority as he targeted judging eyes on the jock who was preparing tea. That look just screamed _Amateur._ Tsuna just wished Yamamoto didn’t indulge him like this, while Kusakabe looked fed up. A stray thought entered his head about how Hibari must take tea pretty seriously with the expensive ceramic cups and authentic tea ceremony set. It seemed like the prefect was pretty into traditional Japanese culture.

The prefect looked appeased at the brunette’s appreciation as his assistant coughed to get the ball rolling.

“Kyo-san, was there something you wanted me to look into?”

“Update the information on the victims. They’re dead.”

Kusakabe looked horrified as the relaxing aroma of the chamomile permeated the air. He then looked accusingly towards the former ace who merely shrugged as it didn’t have anything to do with him.

Tsuna partly wanted to kick the tea set, which was not reading the mood of the room, even if that incurred the wrath of the demon of Namimori. But he quickly looked away before Yamamoto took him up on that.

“Reveal your cards” Hibari ordered the teen, the glinting of the tonfas hinting the promise of a threat if he didn’t comply.

“I’m willing to do that if you do me a favour in return.”

“You don’t have to hear him out, Kyo-san. He’s only going to bargain for a get out of jail free card!”

“Pssh, you’re no fun~”

“You’ve got no right to complain, trying to bribe the law like this.”

“There’s nothing that particularly makes this ‘law’ legal. So, I figure those backdoor agreements are quite fair game.”

“Are you’re challenging me?” Hibari taunted.

“If we bring it down to the very basics, your law basically has to protect the Namimori citizens from every threat upon it, right? I think Hibari-san just took it up so that he can face any violence face to face and be the go-to guy for any such scenarios that call for it.

But, there’s a lot more going on in this town than what you’re aware off- information, you’re not privy to as a consequence of being a lone wolf. Some of it, I bet Irie-senpai knows from what Gokudera lead him to seeing.”

“Where are you going with this?” the teen with the pompadour asked.

“Currently, I’m playing the man in the middle for Gokudera’s strategy. I’m not good with this sort of thing after all, haha. I never expected that you’d capture Tsuna though. It changes things.

I want that card for the three of us. I’ll keep asking for them from now on.”

Hibari narrowed his eyes at the veiled threat.

“After all, you’re lacking information, right? As a freebie, I’ll let you know that the murders aren’t our doing. It’s a friend of a friend who’s acting all alone.”

“It’s your card that you lost. Irie knows about what needs to be found and I can _convince_ him.” Hibari drawled, sounding bored.

“Ahh, I wonder why Gokudera went with that idea. It’s so much harder for me.“

Tsuna hesitated a bit before interrupting the conversation by asking, “By murders, do you mean…?” It’d be great if it wasn’t what he was thinking.

Hibari looked at him with a look radiating annoyance as he took a photo and flung it on the tea-table. Kusakabe felt his throat drying up as he saw the crime scene. Feeling dizzy with the racing thoughts, he gulped his tea to ground himself. He wondered how Hibari was able to stay calm when faced with such a gruesome scene.

It was too much. The kid near him could never handle something of this level. He was just inadvertently caught amidst terrifying people like Yamamoto and Hibari. And sure enough, the kid seemed to be shocked to silence as he stared at the photo.

Yamamoto looked at the other expectantly with the energy of a dog looking for praise. Tsuna’s shoulders started slouching as he kept looking, seemingly caught in a trance as he brought the photo closer to himself. The jock continued the conversation, seemingly intent on giving the other time to process his own thoughts.

“What about your plans Hibari-san? Surely you don’t think everything will stop if you round up whoever are responsible for these incidents? Crime doesn’t really stop for anyone even if you tried to pause time to stop things once and for all.

Think about it, if you let us off, we could help you have a closer look into all of this. As it turns out, we know each other quite closely.”

“What is with you guys? Do you have an annual murderer’s convention or something? Do you call each other crows or something?” Kusakabe said, feeling somewhat hysterical.

“Don’t talk like you’re somehow doing us a favour. You’re the ones negotiating your freedom.”

Figures that Hibari would be uninterested in this deal. He’d probably be gleeful at the idea that he can sharpen his blade as the situation only gets worse. Yamamoto looked chagrined that the scene didn’t trigger the demon of Namimori’s pride into enough impatience to leave them be. But if this fails, they’d be separated. He didn’t want that. The talk with Irie was a gamble anyway.

Yamamoto’s eyes shadowed as Kusakabe fell into alert. His voice was deadly as he said,

“That was the choice we thought you’d like best. After all, to give it up after being cornered seems too much of an insult to you, wouldn’t it? You think you have options here?

It’s been either take us up on that offer or remain in the dark.

…Kusakabe-senpai, you might want to be careful about drinking tea brewed by people you should be suspicious about.”

Hibari started inching forward, fury radiating from him. The assistant seemed to be sick to his stomach at being a liability or maybe it was from the poison kicking in.

“You don’t have to look so severe. It’s not too late. I’ve got the antidote.”

“I can just beat it out of you.” Hibari threatened.

“That’s why the second insurance is at Irie’s house. Gokudera set up a contact triggered bomb. All it takes is a touch to set it off. It has enough battery to last for a month, since its simple. It’s either him opening the door or you guys trying to set him free that’ll destroy the evidence and the brains of the operation. Or maybe he’ll starve to death instead?” there was a lilt in his tone as he pondered over things in a childish manner. “There’s no blue or red wire that you have to cut to stop it. And Gokudera knows his stuff about bombs. Good luck trying to disarm it~”

If Yamamoto expected emotional turmoil from the prefect, he saw none. The other simply came closer and closer, until his malice was clear.

“They’ve made their peace with the dangers of this position long ago. I’ve never made a promise or taken the responsibility of protecting them. It’s for the same reason why I didn’t touch the tea.”

Yamamoto looked in alarm towards Kusakabe who looked like this was all normal. He simply said, “Irie didn’t come to us with conditions like protecting his family from being taken hostage or protecting him when taking this case. He had been very, very loosely connected before- a type of an independent agent, but this time, it was his request to be an active participant.

You’re the one threatening to kill your precious Tsunayoshi’s dear friend _right in front of him._ That too, all for not being pulled apart from him. Don’t worry, we’ll make special considerations in juvy to make sure it’s like having a restraint order against him. It’ll be for life. It’ll apply for all of the others involved in this case.”

After all, that’s what Irie wanted from this case, a chance for his friend away from their influence, to atone for. Kusakabe didn’t agree, but he could respect his wishes. After all, it’d do good for all of them given the nature of their relationships and how it all came to be. There was always a chance for a change to the better- look at the disciplinary committee.

A shuddering breath full of despair was heard from a device on Yamamoto’s ear. So… Gokudera was listening in, huh? What the disciplinary committee had to do right now was to make sure they couldn’t run away (their final choice- to be fugitives).

* * *

The silent brunette had a look full of peace as he finally towards them. Any traces of that cowardice that plagued him had been completely gone. Recognition filled his eyes as Hibari realized that once again, the brunette was related to the crimes that were running amok in Namimori. That the other stood with the demeanour of someone in the calm of the storm and he realized again why he let things be before.

The photo was the gift given to Tsuna as she showed him the beauty that can be found in death. His friends encased in the violence that was perpetual during their each and every greetings and farewell. It was so gorgeous, comforting him and empathized with the death of his mother. He remembered how she looked, wrapped in the soft petals of royal purple, covered in flowers. It was breathtaking. It was dying like that, that hid the decay associated with death.

The picture told him again how the danse of macabre could be so alluring. It was a show of companionship, maybe to match the splendour with which he bode ‘farewell’. It was so like her, maybe it was expected of a person who kept such a close eye on him. It was thanks to her constant presence that she could show this depth of understanding.

And now, things were hanging by a thread again, but he could make his choice and find peace in that.

“Thanks a lot, Yamamoto-kun.”

“I was shocked when I heard about her, you know? Here I thought I knew you long enough to know everyone around you. I wanted to do that from now on, but…”

“It’s all right, Yamamoto-kun. I can take it from here.” He felt like things were finally coalescing together, with the threat of losing those dear to him hanging right above him. The feeling of being as constricted as a Chinese bound foot, a Sarashi that constricted the chest, the corset that restricted and choked a lady to her very death – the beauty and virtue that sacrificed pain and comfort for higher ground; He always knew of it, but the freedom that came right now as he felt the space around him expand, escaping the confines of this room was something he’d prefer.

Golden eyes looked towards Hibari who seemed intrigued by the change in his demeanour.

“Hibari-san, for all you try to enact justice, all I see is you trying to force a situation into enough control that you can handle it again. I… I’ve always lived a life where the violence took up every slot in my life. It’s been a constant for so long, I don’t know what it’d be like without it.

I don’t understand why you seek a challenge, paying blood with blood like it’s something that’s a rare treat to be relished. After all, it’s quite the common thing.”

He looked at Kusakabe who’s fingers were trembling and at the teen himself who had anger towards himself for not being able to control himself.

“It’s just like that. My body was never mine to control, I’ve always had to brace myself to wherever that wild horse wanted to ride towards.”

He looked towards Yamamoto, a silent request in his eyes as the other sighed and passed a vial. He moved closer to the wary Kusakabe and it was like seeing himself. He forced the other’s mouth open with strength the assistant would never think that the kid possessed- it was more of it being opened from the brunette skillfully dislocating his jaw, as if he’d had that being done to him, many times. The vial dripped, making its way into his stomach as his cheeks burned with the humiliation at being forced and helpless, even if it was to save his life.

Yamamoto had a bruising grip on Hibari, who seemed to be torn from missing out on Tsuna’s every move while dealing with the former ace (it would be a swift hit to end the deal, but precious seconds away from the form that seemed to be draped in chaos and destruction, wearing the Grim Reaper’s robes.) There was sheer kindness, mercy being bequest to Kusakabe even as the gesture greatly contradicted from what the other was experiencing – the gruesome scene of having to consciously watch someone render you completely incapacitated as he dislocated your jaw and pour a liquid of unknown, dubious origins down your throat as the other didn’t even bother giving you an explanation. It the vial was held right above the set of teeth, canines included (with which they rip apart their prey, tearing into meat – disarming the predator’s inherited weapons).

There were sounds, crackling, coming from the ear set on the jock’s end with footsteps that went farther away. Hibari guessed that it was the other who was following Tsuna’s intentions into freeing Irie Shoichi. The trio’s last trump card was given away so easily that it slightly disoriented the prefect.

Curious as to the view he was currently being made to see, Hibari moved closer towards the brunette, easily breaking out of the grip of the herbivore that tried to stall him. He fluidly brought down the tonfa, sharp and deadly, hearing a familiar crunch of a bone-breaking, well placed to incapacitate the baseball lover. As the pain evoked and reached deeper in intensity, Yamamoto’s body shut down to protect itself.

Tsuna hardly seemed shocked by the fate of his friend- it was truly a phenomenon that he was familiar with, the techniques that he employed to display his power that overwhelmed his opponents. But his attention had become distracted, no longer intent at facing Hibari, his gaze stuck at Yamamoto’s fallen form.

It brought back that sense of disgust that he had when trying to get a rise out of the brunette before dragging him here. That look that accompanied that violence- the whole scene bordering madness vanished as he seemed to change his priorities. Hibari wanted it back. What would it take it bring it back and go deeper into that? What would Tsunayoshi be capable of if he went deeper and deeper to that state? If that became his new _normal_?

Was dyeing Namimori in blood all that it would take to get it there? That wasn’t a high price.

He brought the tonfas making a beautiful arc as Tsuna ducked under it, rushing towards his fallen friend. That simply wouldn’t do, so he swept a foot under his motion, tripping him to punish him for those straying eyes. All of a sudden, he felt that the bruises he gave the brunette fit him perfectly. It made him even momentarily forgive Yamamoto for leading a murder of those idiots who had full reign of the injuries littering the brunette’s figure.

Tsunayoshi would look even more fitting if the view was more rose gold. It’d even be better if the new wounds that appear there would be ones that fought their way into that place.

Then, those sneering eyes were on him, his hands pulling the coaster on the table, making the hot tea spill on his figure. The liquid had contact-based poison mixed into it, so it’d slow him down the longer he took. The heat would quicken the spread slightly.

Hibari gave him a shark grin, daring him to pull what he tried with Kusakabe on him. The brunette kicked the vial with what little remained to the other corner of the room, to get him some time. But the prefect didn’t rise to the bait, his concentration completely on the former as he aimed a kick to his stomach to pin him to place. He had no intentions of letting this one escape. The demon of Namimori would allow him to play the distraction while the others run but wouldn’t let him run from the fight, not when things were getting interesting.

Tsuna hooked a leg under his ankle and pulled as he breathed heavily under the force of his shoe to force him to the ground. Then as Hibari shifted to gain footing and choke the other under the weight of his tonfa and the increased pressure from the momentum. He moved impatiently, interested in observing his actions when choked out of his last breath, mere inches from a hopeful future where he got Yamamoto out of the room against all odds.

His eyes opened wide and a sparkled darkly as he saw golden flames push against him, a blowback that forced him right out of the window with the other looking utterly spent. Complacence washed over him as he realized that this was what aided Nana towards her death, but it wasn’t something he’d entertain even for a second. The peace that momentarily flooded him exacerbated the poison and it thrilled him to fight the other in this case, ripping into him with the tonfas embedded into him, dissipating through those flames. He flipped around midair to land on his feet as he pushed forward and onto the wall to parkour back to the room only to find Kusakabe trying to get himself up, no doubt failing to block the duo’s escape.

He moved towards the door and found that it had been locked from the outside and let a bored sigh, the adrenaline rush fading away. He simply smashed the tonfas on the knob and turned away from it as the door’s hinges gave away with a harsh creak and the lock gave way under the sheer force.

He moved towards the sofa and drunk the remnants of the vial, taking a nap- the case became too boring to pursue further.


	10. I'll protect you, even from yourself

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there.
> 
> Hope you enjoy the story. I got the motivation to continue writing after reading all the reviews, so thanks for those.
> 
> Lemme know what you think :D

Irie looked at Kusakabe who was lost in thought. He supposed that the two of them were in the same boat, alive even after death's suffocating kiss. Hibari was the only one who seemed like he gained something out of that situation. And now his friend willingly chose to shelter those two, despite their short friendship.

He remembered gritting his teeth as Reborn stopped by after the ordeal and giving him a brief about the bomb attached to his door's handle. It was a grim reminder of just what kind of people were Tsuna's newest company. The brunette always ended up being involved with malice in one form or the other. He figured that he wasn't the best influence for feeling the slightest bit of relief that their bullies bit the dust- it would serve as a warning for any future tormentors.

That baby chose to end the conversation with himself saying how the brunette chose those two over him for they were 'his guardians'. It was utterly ridiculous. They were friends for so long and all of a sudden, Tsuna was being pulled away from him, setting himself up for sabotage, for something that seemed animalistic in its attraction. Reborn spoke it as a deterrent for him to stop putting his nose into this.

Irie's countenance darkened. He had heard about these elements from Verde. In that case, would Tsuna choose to forget him completely if he met his _sun?_

"They might be another degenerate and yet he'd _choose them instead?_ " he muttered.

"Sorry, Irie-kun. I wasn't paying attention. I guess I've not really gotten past yesterday." Kusakabe rubbed his tired eyes, exhaustion in his every limb at the mess that was the DC committee room. Hibari looked quite at home amongst all the broken china and earthen tea sets. The furniture was toppled everywhere like in the aftermath of a disaster. The glass of the window was scattered around the floor and he had to reset his jaw back. His fingers still trembled as the relocation seemed like the mending of a toy.

The poison had dimmed his surroundings and his body felt like lead, but taking the antidote had been an ordeal he'd rather erase from his mind. How much of it was from bad influence?

'Irie-kun, does the person you want to save really exist?' and he swallowed that question down forcefully. It didn't help that in his memory, Hibari looked at his broken jaw like he had received a precious gift.

From his investigation, he learned that belladonnas were used as a cosmetic back in the day. It kept bringing Mochida's final moments in the front of his mind and Kusakabe wished that Hibari's wandering whims would choose to tie the loose ends and make everything that was happening now a cold case and a cautionary tale of Namimori's past. But he had a sinking feeling that as long as the prefect was entertained, he'd observe its development.

He supposed he'd take what he could get and have small comfort in the fact that Irie looked as haggard as he did.

"Is Hibari-san not going to do anything?"

"He might want to wait and watch. He told me to stick the tea sets together."

"Is he trying to make sure that you don't look into the case further? Why can't he get a new one?"

"The tea set was soaked in neurotoxins. He said that it was for anyone with the audacity to want him to host them. The clay itself has poison penetrating it."

"Huh? Then why did you drink it?"

"Hibari-san only told me this yesterday."

"So that's how he didn't get caught in Yamamoto's trap… Vicious guy.

Say, you are planning on continuing the investigation, right?"

"…Well, whatever can be salvageable."

"…What?"

"Much of the evidence for the case, especially the proof that ties into Yamamoto-kun and Gokudera-kun's actions have been destroyed in the aftermath.

Sorry, Irie-kun. After all the trouble you went into transferring the data to the committee room to prevent Gokudera from rough-housing his way into erasing their involvement-"

"When did you find that out?"

"Hmm? Kyo-san told me about it when I came into consciousness. Why?"

"It's nothing. I'll cooperate with the case. I'll let you know what I saw in that hospital room.

There was a girl who entered the room. She literally popped inside the room. There were no signs of tampering with the video footage, so there might be something else in play here."

Kusakabe scowled at how the ginger was revealing such vital information this late. There were too many people with a personal stake involved in this string of cases. It seemed like their informant had a vendetta against the jock this time around. But no matter what the reason, he would choose to be the unbiased party if no one would. Remembering those golden eyes, he shuddered.

The brunette had become relaxed when he looked at the crime scene. It was a gesture for him, yet another tie to a case's suspect. When had they gotten acquainted? Could there be another incident, one whose truth got buried with the passage of time?

"What were her features?"

She clearly had the ability to go undetected, so her appearance must have been on purpose. With how _skilled her handiwork_ had been, it wouldn't be too far a stretch to say that she might have a hobby involving cosplaying or making clothes.

"She had a mask, so I can't tell how her face looked like. The surveillance camera wasn't powerful enough to capture the details of the face and it didn't have a mic." Irie said.

"There might be a lead to reach out to her. She seems to be Tsunayoshi-kun's and someone else's acquaintance. That someone else introduced her to Yamamoto-kun, so she might be in his circle."

"Do you even know how many people are in that guy's circle?"

"But if it's the two of them, it could be narrowed down. I'm thinking of asking Sasagawa Kyoko."

At that instant, Irie's eyes gleamed with a spark of madness. Kusakabe attributed it to a trick of the light. It could also be that spending day in and day out looking into the ones hampering the town's peace made him fairly paranoid.

* * *

Kurokawa spoke briskly, not wanting to spend any quality time with the brat.

"You said you have information. Let's exchange what we know. I don't want to owe you even a single debt. So, say it. I'll decide whether to continue or not if you have valuable information."

"Yamamoto is more involved with Mochida than you thought. He's the one behind the person who's murdered the captain and his friends in that fashion."

"Huh, likely story. If he was the one behind it, then why try to make me work on the plans to do him in?"

"It's because I had come to stop you and your actions distracted the staff enough to let the perpetrator do the job in their own sweet time."

"That guy's an idiot. There's no way he could come up with such a plan."

"He's very perspective about people. It doesn't take book smarts to think of what people might do if you observe them enough."

"Say for argument's sake that this was the case, then how did this person sneak into the hospital? The crime scene was very bloody, making an exit in those clothes would be nigh impossible.

Not to mention, those guys were in the sports club. Mochida was an ass, but he was somewhat skilled with the sword. Those idiots were all brawn and no brain. But there was no sign of struggle.

I was careful with the supplies of 'medicine' and kept track of whoever tried to access them. There was also no drugs in their system. They were contorted into that shape. It's not something that anyone can do."

"I'll tell you what. Rather than explaining it to you, I'll give you a lead to your burning questions. But remember, you were the one who wanted to make this an exchange."

"You brat-"

"Go to Tsuyoshi, Yamamoto's father and tell him that he's the main suspect of the case. If he starts denying things, tell him that I've tipped them off that he was a former assassin.

It is very plausible that he's capable of doing such acts."

"You… after saying that Yamamoto's the one behind this, you're still telling me to accuse his dad?"

"What can I do? You won't believe my words, much less the prattles of a child."

"If Yamamoto is truly behind this… Wouldn't his dad try to take the blame for his sake? I've come here for an information exchange, not to do your dirty deeds for you."

"I think you should stop underestimating the ones close to you so much. I've told you, didn't I? That guy's pretty perspective when it comes to people's intentions.

I think you'd be surprised at what you'd see if you really _looked_ at the people beside you. Mind you, the truth is going to be bitter."

"It can't be worse than coming to an actual baby for information."

Reborn simply smirked at the lass. It was quite a dirty trick on his end. What she'd be doing for him would precisely serve as gaining more information into the scene of gorgeous carnage. What would be a better source than hearing it directly from the person involved?

And on top of that, she would generously give him one question to ask. That question could drive the wedge between Hana and Kyoko and make them both wary about the other's moves. With that, Tsuna's sun guardian would be free from her clutches.

"Remember, you can always ask Tsuyoshi if Yamamoto can't answer the questions regarding the murderer. _It would make sense for the one who did the deal to remember what really transpired_."

* * *

Gokudera looked at the bruises that were growing more prominent in Tsunayoshi's face. He had to leave him alone only for a day and that _bastard_ hunted him down, aiming for the duo's vulnerability. In the haze of his consciousness, he recognized the look that the demon of Namimori gave the latter. It was the look of someone who found their next favourite toy. That sort of guy didn't know how to cherish something precious to him.

The house was bugged and Reborn would be lying in wait for them. He had heard of the baby's spartan ways and it would only serve to increase the number of bruises on the brunette.

Tsuna slouched down in an alleyway, trying to catch his breath as he wheezed pitifully. Gokudera didn't need Tsuna to try and support them until his dying breath. But Hibari looked like he would try to push him to the edge of the cliff over and over again to force Tsuna to entertain him in the amazing retaliation of a cornered rat. Gokudera remembered the strength of will that encompassed Tsuna at that room. It was certainly not surprising that it could enchant the prefect.

But personally, he would rather that his precious little gem shone dully. His saviour need not invoke awe, if it came at the price of his pain and suffering. At the very least, that way, Tsuna would be his and no-one would covet his treasure.

The brunette didn't even need to walk one step. If he lost his arms and legs, Gokudera could carry him in his backpack, where they'd be stuck to each other, back to back and he wouldn't have to worry about losing him- even for a second.

Tsuna ruffled the bomber's hair, making him look at the former in a stupor.

"You looked pretty severe, lost in your thoughts like that. I just wanted to make you relax a bit. It's fine. It'll all work out, sooner or later."

His emerald eyes glistened. That was right. If he actually went through with it, Tsuna wouldn't be able to reach him with those warm hands of his. Why couldn't those two be satisfied with how this lad was? He was perfect, just like this.

The brunette followed Gokudera's lead and the trust that was freely given to him, with how the former didn't even ask questions about their destination was beautiful. It made where they were going so much more suitable.

The Namimori shrine was in front of them.

"Tsuna, could you stay here? That idiot's in town to collect the supplies to make it more livable."

"Gokudera-kun, the location's way too inappropriate! This is a god's abode."

"It's precisely because no one thinks that someone will stay here that makes it a great hiding place."

"What about you guys? Hibari-san can be very persistent. No, I think I'm coming along. You guys can't be thinking of trying to sneak past him and Reborn."

"Please stay here. It's because you're their main aim."

"That's all the more reason. You guys bore the brunt of his attacks. We've got to get them treated. I did it this time. _I_ could help out. I can still help." There was a shining hope in those auburn eyes. Reborn's words shook in his mind and yet, _he_ had managed to shelter the two from Hibari's wrath. He was always shown so blatantly, just how powerless he was- and yet, there was something even Dame-Tsuna could do for someone else.

"I'm fine. This much is nothing. It's nothing to boast about, but my friends had taught me about the different routes in town where nobody goes into. I even know where the DC committee members patrol and at what time."

When his hands could reach to them and his body could shield them from another hit, the power to protect something soothed him. It overlapped their figures for an instant with the child who curled into himself and wished for a Gundam to save the day. There weren't any robot heroes that existed, but _he_ had rose to the occasion to be the hero who could have saved a kindred soul.

Gokudera sighed fondly and Tsuna gave the other a wobbly smile, hope blossoming in him for another chance to try becoming that person again. He wouldn't let them down. Nana's empty smile came to his mind. Not again. Never again.

With those gentle hands, he pushed him into the shrine and closed the door, shutting the other inside. Panic gripped the brunette as he banged furiously at that door.

"No, no, no, no. Why?! No, don't go! _Please! I beg you, Gokudera-kun._ "

The wooden door made ghastly creaks as the sheer desperation lodged splinters into his hands as the old thing took its final stand. It felt like a farewell. A second chance that Nana didn't give him. The bonds that were as fragile as a bud before bloom, a friendship that he didn't have the opportunity to indulge in.

Then suddenly, the door quietly opened with the bomber in torn garbs. Then a desperate hope seesawed back into his mind, all for naught.

"You'll hurt yourself that way."

With the torn clothing, the teen swiftly and tightly tied his arms and legs together. When the brunette still struggled with the knots of the flimsy clothing, Gokudera looked like what he'd be doing next would physically hurt him. With a tiny scalpel, he inched forward towards Tsuna.

The brunette's auburn eyes widened at the threat and he instinctively jerked away and his legs gave away to make him drop to the floor.

There, in that sanctum, Gokudera nicked his Achilles heels and with that, he was the caged bird, Hayato's very own bluebird of happiness. Tsuna's tears rolled down his cheeks as the other hugged him tightly. He stroked that brown hair in a soothing gesture as he muttered comfortingly.

"It hurts, doesn't it? I'm sorry for being so rough. But if it can keep you from doing dangerous things, I can bring myself to do it."

Tsuna gripped at the taller teen's shirt but his fingers didn't sink his nails sharply into the other's skin. He was tired of being the one who hurt the ones he cared about. In this somewhat ironical situation, he was forced to be powerless. Those kind emerald eyes looked at him sorrowfully and Tsuna had been the one to force him into doing this. But he still wanted to reach his hand out. If he tried to do so again, would Gokudera choose to break his fists?

He remembered Kyoko-chan as she looked at the conviction of her brother as he used his fists to protect someone else. It was the same will that made Tsuna look at her older brother like he was a hero.

Gokudera looked at him with the gaze of a devotee. But God never did anything for Tsuna and with that omniscience and omnipotence, they simply looked over him as he pleaded for mercy and begged for salvation. When he looked past the locked door, imagining the silhouettes of Gokudera and Yamamoto, he thought…

They would hurt for him and bleed in his stead.


	11. Paper Crown

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I'm back :D Thanks for the comments. I've thought bout how the story would be progressing and I've got twists in store for you guys.  
> Lemme know what you guys think- enjoy~

A kid walked into the town, searching for the target that his famiglia assigned to him. It was his big chance to make a name for himself, and especially because the said target was the world-renown number one hitman- Reborn.

The townspeople had nervous looks. They had no doubt understood it in their bones about just how big of a threat he was. He _was_ the great Lambo after all. They should be covering in their boots, ready to lick them clean from his mere presence.

There weren’t many people around too and those were the ones wise enough to try and hide into their homes. Well, that made things simple for the child if they were going to look past him. He could see it right now. He’d waltz right into the hitman’s hideout.

“Finally, a worthy opponent. Our battle will be legendary.”

Then, those guys at the Bovinos wouldn’t ignore him. They’d look at him with awe and respect, fawning over his each and every glance. He wouldn’t find himself being left behind for their ‘agendas’. If he brings Reborn’s head on a silver platter, they’d never have anything more important than him. All those sneering, disgusted, disapproving or contemptuous looks would vanish.

“I’ll do it. They’ll see.

They’ll all see. They’ll regret looking down upon me when I kick Reborn’s ass.”

_“Hmm? Boss told that brat to bring Reborn’s head or to never come back?_

_Poor kid._

_That’s practically a death sentence. Oh well, that kid was far too useless to keep around. It was best to dispose of him.”_

His fists gripped together, but he shook it off and started running to a place where he thought the guy would be.

“If I was Reborn, where would I go?”

It was a guy who thought of himself as far beyond the rest of humanity. No one would ever refute him if he claimed it out loud. Well, he was about to change all that. He had to.

Lambo ran past the buildings. There were some people wearing black uniforms and having a severe look. They have to be the guy’s grunts. He had no time to waste fighting them. Reborn might be choosing to retreat when he’s stuck with them.

Since Reborn would be the boss, the hitman must be in a more isolated area. It was because if he really was the best, he’d find them a nuisance. It was the same for Lambo. They were both lone wolves- powerful and lonely at the top.

He tripped a little.

It wasn’t like if he managed to succeed at this, the Bovino would be too scared to be near him… right?

‘The view in front of him was in a rich green. The trees swayed with the wind as he found himself in the clearance. Amongst that greenery, there was a shrine that seemed like the plants grew over. The structure itself was supposed to host a god.

Thinking that he was on to something, Lambo rammed into the door at full strength, his hands reaching into his afro for a grenade.

“Reborn! It is I, the great Lambo. Look upon my splendour ye mighty and despair!”

There was a no-one but a scrawny guy in the room. He looked at the child like a gaping fish.

“Who’re you? Are you his servant? Then become mine.”

Seeing the other open and close his mouth, Lambo thought he had no choice but to do it. He reached for a water bottle from his afro and threw it at the brunette.

“There. Now I’ve watered you.” Yet, the child threw the whole thing right at his forehead. Spluttering in that water might have been a better way to do that, but getting bonked in the head was better.

The bottle rolled over a little ways away from the brunette and when he tried reaching out to it, his centre of gravity collapsed making him face plant on the tatami.

Lambo looked wholly unimpressed as his future assistant tried scrambling to a crawling position. Given that Tsuna had to put his entire body weight on his scrawny arms to get anywhere, especially with his ankles smarting horribly… it went just as well as anyone could expect.

“You’re… pretty useless, aren’t you? Anyway, what’s your name?”

Even if Tsuna was unhappy with their first impressions, he wheezed and answered “Sawada Tsunayoshi.”

“Hmm. Then, you’ll be Dame-Tsuna! We’ve got no time to waste here, so follow me.”

Tsuna looked at the child in exasperation as he just managed to prop himself on his elbows, his pose like that of a seal in aquarium shows.

“It’s impossible. I can’t move from here. I can’t drag myself towards the exit.” He popped open the bottle and took a swig from it to clear his parched throat. Most of his strength had been spent, trying to futilely reach for the shrine entrance and chase after Gokudera. His elbows collected dust and looked like they hid bruises. Not to mention that Hibari did a pretty number on him.

“…Can’t be helped. This great Lambo will help you. Sheesh, you can’t even get out of one unlocked building without me.”

Seeing the child lifting him a little to prop him on his shoulder, Tsuna gave the other a sincere thanks. A small look of surprise appeared on the former’s face, but the child quickly tried schooling his face back to normal. That failed pretty badly, given the heavy blush on his features.

Tsuna looked surprised at how with just the arrival of this child, the somewhat hopeless situation at the shrine instantly got solved. He looked at the rustling grass surrounding the forest with teary eyes. All that worry about both his own situation and the other two’s precarious states instantly vanished into the open space.

The child took him deeper into the forest and plopped him against the back of a tree and said,

“I know. You’ll need food and water right? I’ll go get them immediately ‘cos _you_ can’t. So Dame-Tsuna, sit there and wait for me.”

He then noticed the wound at his ankles re-opening and continued, “You’re definitely useless. I just dragged you a little and you’re bleeding. But it’s fine. I’m here after all.” And then he proceeded to fetch bandages from his afro.

“Gotta bandage it quick or the wolves here will pick up on your scent. Then I won’t be there to help you even if you call for me.”

Tsuna looked surprised at the level of care the seemingly callous kid gave him, even if it felt like the other was treating him like a pet that was dependent on him for its survival. Lambo looked way too excited to be his saviour as he didn’t even bother waiting for Tsuna’s response.

It left the brunette with mixed feelings since it reminded him of how excited his mom would get when dealing with his slob of a father. It was like a sense of purpose that came from dealing with someone who was so useless they’d die without being supported. Tsuna wasn’t that happy at being put in the same place as that irresponsible guy.

But if the kid was observant enough to notice that he had a wound at his ankle, why did he bring him to this isolated place?

‘It’s not like he couldn’t have seen the food supplies in the shrine, right? The place was pretty empty.’ And so he thought he’d bring it up when the kid returned.

“Lambo-kun, thank you very much for bringing me out here. I was struggling to do just that- you were a life saviour. But this might be a little odd, but my friend was the one who told me to stay there. If I’m gone, he’d be worried about me and would be looking around for me. So, if you see him around, can you tell him where I’d be? Actually, the reason why he-”

“That’s stupid. That’s the guy who made you stuck there right? If he was your pal, he’d get you out there. He left you behind, so forget ‘bout him. Look, you’ve got me instead, right?! And I’m way cooler than that kind of bad guy who’d abandon you! I’ve got you food, water and I’ve bandaged you too! And look!” he brought a sleeping bag from his afro- and Tsuna wondered how did all that fit inside there- and threw it at him. Lambo looked at him expectantly, his eyes sparkling with so much hope as to show just why he was the better option.

‘This isn’t going to work. He doesn’t want to listen.’ Not to mention that the story was long and the child’s attention span was pretty short, given how he was already distracted now. But, after all the work Lambo did, Tsuna didn’t feel great to just accept things, so he rummaged his pockets to fetch a grape candy. Gokudera made sure he didn’t lack for food after all.

As soon as the sweet made its appearance, it caught the kid’s attention immediately. “I’ll give this to you as thanks for all the help.”

Lambo made an ear-splitting grin as a peal of gleeful laughter came out of his mouth, and he grabbed the candy and ate it whole. Then, as if the exhaustion for the day caught up to him, he yawned and plopped right next to Tsuna’s messy hair which made for a fine makeshift pillow. The brunette gave an exasperated sigh at the sleeping child’s antics and split the blanket evenly between them.

By the next morning, he woke up feeling oddly cold and realized that Lambo took the blanket for himself. He tried lifting his legs to no avail as it barely responded to him as his body remained in the same position as when Lambo placed him there. It was as if he was reduced to a doll, and that was only further reinforced when the child immediately went looking for food for both of them when he woke up.

The fog of the forest made the place cold in the mornings, prompting the other to gather firewood when he heard Tsuna sneezing. The moniker rang true yet again. He had gotten a fever along with that, making it hard for him to focus on the surroundings to keep an ear out for Gokudera’s return. A heavy daze took over him, as the child forgot his mission to take care of the brunette full time.

How many days had past since they had escaped from the shrine? He was worried about the burden that Lambo took upon himself for their sakes. He worried about whether Gokudera would have turned into a headless chicken in search for him. He wondered what Yamamoto was up to? Did Hibari catch them? ...Where was Reborn?

Lambo’s soft hands put a wet cloth on his forehead and changed it in intervals and it reminded him of Nana whenever he was down with a fever. He wondered if the child who had immediately called him Dame-Tsuna would have looked as exasperated as she did when his utility dropped lower than usual?

But when his fever subsided, he noticed that his Achilles heel was slowly healing and he excitedly claimed to Lambo, “It’s healing! In just some time I can be able to walk again!” This way he can help in gathering their food. Then Lambo can have free time for his initial request this way too.

Strangely enough, the declaration seemed to have made the child disappointed.

“Oh… you can walk again…

…

Right! Wouldn’t trying to walk again be difficult?! Rather than pushing yourself to do something this Lambo can do so easily, you can just wait there and get everything you need, right?!”

“But if I get back up, then we can actually do the thing you wanted my help for-”

“It’s going to be boring to wait until you can walk and do things for me and you’ll just get in my way for collecting fruits and wood here. It’s better if you just stay there. I can take care of both of us better than when you help out! So just stay like that!

I don’t have the time for the mission right now, so it can just wait for me! Besides, that bad guy would be searching for you, right? If he sees you moving around, he might do something even worse to get you back in that place!”

“I’ve been meaning to talk to you about him, you’ve mistaken his intentions-”

“No, Dame-Tsuna. Even I tried taking that kind of guy’s side before! You can run after them as much as you want, they don’t ever look back.” In fact, Lambo actually ended up getting farther away from the Bovino famiglia- all the way to Namimori- even if he tried to meet their every expectation. It was these days with the brunette that made him realize that there’s no line of sight that can meet if you keep chasing after someone. Tsuna was just like him… No, he was worse than him. That’s why he needs Lambo and because he needs him, he can’t let go of him.

That’s why _he still needs to need Lambo_.

“You know what, Dame-Tsuna? I actually ran out of bandages, so your feet might not get better.” The ground of the forest was rough and an exposed wound was the perfect bait for insects. Tsuna didn’t need feet with Lambo around anyway.

The brunette paused at that statement. It was hard to believe that a person with a seemingly infinite storage space inside his afro suddenly ran out of medical supplies. Not to mention, the timing was a bit on the nose. But it was baffling. Why did it seem like the child would love him to stay this useless when that moniker of his was always full of wrath whenever it was uttered? In fact, even Tsuna agreed with the spite and malice that laced a voice that addressed him. He himself didn’t like that weak self of his that could do nothing but look. Worse yet, could do nothing but watch a situation as it worsened- sometimes even worsening it from his involvement.

“I’ll be your hero, Tsuna-nii.”

Tsuna wanted to be a hero for most of his life too. But he failed horribly when he tried being one, and for once, he was able to be one- even if it was for a very short time. This time, it was Lambo who got to be that role. That word fell on the child’s mouth like it was a stranger, and at that moment- Tsuna knew that they were the same. Tsuna could choose to be Gokudera and take it away from him…

“Hey Lambo, can I ask you something? I’m just curious. Why did you come to Namimori? Did you have some business with Reborn?”

“Hmm? Well, my famiglia told me to get rid of Reborn and to not come back until I finished that mission.”

He remembered that toddler’s introduction. He was supposedly the world’s number one hitman. For Lambo, someone who seemed like a literal kid unlike Reborn… it had certain implications. Optimistically, it could be taken as ‘Go big or go home’.

‘If someone asked me if Reborn could be defeated by Lambo… Then…’ it was a sombre thought.

“I’ve already beaten Reborn. I’m a much better master than him, right?”

“Yeah… I’ve got to give that to you.”

“Ha ha! I knew it.”

Yes… They both were very alike.

* * *

Kurokawa Hana got the fright of her life when she entered Takesushi. The first thing she saw when she opened the door was a gleaming cleaver in Yamamoto’s hand.

“Kurokawa-chan? You’re finally here. I’ve been waiting for you, so could you sit near the counter? I’ll prepare some sushi for you. Pops agreed to leave the store to me for a bit.”

After hearing all that from the baby, a sharp knife that cuts through the fish like it was butter was not reassuring in the least. The fish bones were cleanly extracted and its dead eyes looked straight at her. Maybe she should have told the kid that she wasn’t interested in dying rather than abetting with him.

“You don’t have to look so wary. I’ve done this a couple of times. I’m even getting familiar with knives after practising the sword lately. I’ll guarantee the taste, heck, it’ll be on the house.”

“Did you know I’d come here to negotiate with you?” it was certainly an eye-opener. To think that the idiot of their class was actually one of the masterminds. And of a case that gruesome… The teen in front of her was skilled enough to slice through the fish while keeping the blade pristine. She tensed as she kept her guard up against him. Despite his skills, he supposedly wooed an acquaintance of Kyoko to do the dirty work for him. Who knows what he’d make her do if she fell for his words.

“I even know that you’d try to drag my pops into this. It’s not really playing fair, but I suppose it’s hard to ask for good sportsmanship from someone who doesn’t play games.

But why are you looking for the truth anyway? I think this stuff is in Hibari-senpai’s jurisdiction.”

“You’re here making sushi. I don’t have any trust that that guy is interested in upholding the law.”

“When did you become the apostle of justice?”

“You’ve got to be joking! After you made me into a sucker that helped the murderer kill people, like hell I wouldn’t try to straighten things out. Plus, if I stayed blind to whatever you sickos are up to, it’d be much more convenient to you guys right?!

Well, I’m not interested in letting the people who get Kyoko and I involved off that easily. So spill. I’ll warn you, but I’m just a button away from dialling your dad if you try anything funny. It has the prerecorded message about just what you don’t want him to hear.”

“That’s pretty hurtful to be accused like that. I’m not even the one who hurt them or killed them. _I’m_ the one who had a cast on my arm from the previous incident and _Kyoko-chan_ is the one who introduced the killer to me.”

“Kyo…ko…?”

“Are you surprised that I know something about her that you, her best friend doesn’t? Don’t tell me you didn’t notice the changes in her?”

“Don’t lie to me! You must have sweet-talked that acquaintance into doing that.”

“Wasn’t the crime scene pretty professional? It’s pretty hard to convince someone to do something that elaborate if they weren’t inclined to that in the first place. Do you think Kyoko-chan would have introduced her to me without knowing her inclinations? I think I have enough people _I_ know to talk to if it’s just to rope them into this. You’ve got personal experience for that, don’t you?”

Kurokawa understood why her friend had done something that extreme to reign in her brother. She knew how stubborn that guy could get. But… to willingly engage herself with a murderer who treated a human body with such disrespect…

“Did ‘she’ have some sort of grudge with those guys? I thought only Tsuna could have justifiable hatred against them…”

“No. She doesn’t hate them. She decorated them and preserved them. Haven’t you seen the place? There’s not a single stray scar. It was all done with purpose.”

“ _…What for?_ ”

“It was all for Tsuna. Isn’t that obvious? Just like what I did. It was all for Tsuna.”

Kurokawa paled as she felt nausea looking at the tuna based sushi in front of her. They had done _that_ for _Tsuna’s_ sake? She had never seen a hint of hatred in the brunette’s face. But this side of Yamamoto was hidden from her, how can she say something about the former with confidence?

“It went right as intended too. Tsuna came to peace with his mom’s death when he saw the photo. After all, a murder can look so _beautiful_ as it honoured the victim too. She understood him really well. It made sense as she followed him around in secret for many years. I mean, _I_ didn’t notice her too. I would call her the perfect stalker, but I don’t think Tsuna thinks of her that way.”

Kurokawa looked at the jock with horror dawning on her face. He and Kyoko knew a stalker for years? When was this? Could Kyoko have possibly learned to think that way from those two?

“Why’re you telling me all this? And so easily?”

“Well, she has been helpful this time around. But, you know… it’s not fair. The three of them have left me out with their little secrets. But since it's their little secrets, they’d leave a new friend out whenever it comes up again. It was pretty lonely, you know? When Tsuna calmed down when he saw the photo, he’s going to trust her and rely on her more in the future.

Hibari-senpai lost interest in the case after that incident, so the next part of the plan went into the trashcan. If we’re all not on the same starting line, then it’s hard to catch up to the finish. Aren’t you looking for the culprit too? Don’t you dislike the bad influence near your best friend? Kyoko-chan’s changed, hasn’t she? You want her back, don’t you? It’s a win-win situation.

I’ll tell you something interesting. Didn’t you find your informant way too smug for your tastes? This will bring him down a peg once it’s all done, I assure you.”

Kurokawa had a sinking feeling where all of this was leading into. It seemed like the string of murders were not going to end with this. But still, a promise of going back to the good old times was hard to resist. She scrunched up her eyes and nodded in agreement.

“Don’t worry. She won’t target you. After all, there are seven people including you who knows her identity. My other accomplice for this case doesn’t know either, hahaha! Her name’s Haru. Miura Haru. You’ve got your answer now.”

“I agreed, so you have to promise me one thing.”

Yamomoto looked at her imploringly.

“Don’t involve Kyoko into this. Don’t lay a single hand on her.” After all, _she was one of the two who kept ‘secrets’ with Tsuna_. Kurokawa would throw ‘Miura Haru’ under the bus if it meant that the guy in front of her wouldn’t reach out for her best friend.

Yamamoto looked disappointed with that deal, but he sighed and said, “I guess you can’t have your own cake and eat it too.”

Shivers ran down her spine at that statement.

But things only turned to the worse when she met up with Reborn.

“I heard about the truth about ‘Miura Haru’ that you wanted to find out from Yamamoto. I agree with what you said before. I wouldn’t have accepted the truth behind Tsuna and Kyoko’s acquaintance with her if you told me about her. Even now, I don’t understand when they met up. She’s always been by my or her brother’s side. So? What do you want me to do for that information? You got me that information without letting me get killed by that _psycho._ ”

With that, Reborn was the eighth person to know about the case’s culprit. He smirked and said,

“I want you to tell your best friend that Hibari is not going to pursue Yamamoto and Haru.” It would be the perfect bait to shift her attention from her brother to her accomplice.

Kurokawa paled at that request. It was a way to tie Kyoko’s fate with Yamamoto- when she told Yamamoto to leave her off the hook but to get her best friend to still entangle with them…

“Were you planning on never telling her about this? She is eventually going to realize, so why not reassure her with your own words? You got Yamamoto to look the other way, didn’t you? What’s the problem?”

She looked at the baby suspiciously. Why did he know about that? It’s almost as if he was listening in on their conversation. In this town, it was really every man for himself. She hated this feeling- like she was caught in the web, struggling to escape from the hungry spider.

“You seem like you want to keep your loved ones safe. I can give you a tip for that. If you’re wary against Yamamoto, keep that recording ready to trigger. He won’t make a move against you until he finds a way to get rid of it. Make sure you never lose it. You can use it as many times as you’d like against him. The case this time hasn’t left them unharmed. As for the other accomplice to the murders, rest assured. I’ve played a move against them. If not solved, this situation can remain in a deadlock.”

When Reborn said that, Kurokawa’s posture relaxed a little. Hidden agenda or not, it seemed like peace could be restored in the future. But just to reassure herself, she asked him,

“Are you planning on keeping Kyoko away from _them_?”

She wanted Kyoko to stay far away from Tsuna and his ‘friends’.

The kid gave her a single nod, and yet she felt like maybe kids weren’t all that bad.

“If you end up putting everything back to those good times, I won’t count this time’s request as a favour.”

Those black beady eyes stared right at her, and she hurriedly tried to end the conversation. Reborn left the place with a tiny smile on his face.


	12. If I Killed Someone For You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this chapter is pretty intense- just a warning. The chapter title is the song name that it was inspired by

Gokudera opened the doors to Takesushi after leaving Tsuna in the shrine. He looked at the tuna based sushi on the table that was left untouched. Yamamoto looked at him with an expression that was out of sorts. He moved to the table and ate the sushi in one bite, thinking that it was for him, but looking at the other staring at him, he paused mid-chew.

“What?”

“…Is it good?”

“Obviously. Do you really have to confirm? You’re a sushi owner’s son, right? This much is a given.”

His accomplice gave him a bitter smile. Gokudera went straight to the main point.

“Did Reborn make a move? I think he would have played hands against the both of us.”

“He sent Kurokawa-chan here with a threat.

…I think I understand why pops wanted to keep his past a secret.”

“You kept her lips sealed, right? I don’t get you. Then your dad wouldn’t know about what’s going on…”

“She now has something to hold over my head for a long time from now on. Yet with her countenance, you’d think that wasn’t the case. I’ve never seen her like that.” The former ace complained.

“Did you fail in the negotiations or something?”

“…Let’s leave that behind. Where’s Tsuna right now? I told him I’ll explain everything. It must be getting boring being there alone.”

Gokudera tsked and moved towards the exit, prompting the other to follow him. Yamamoto gave Takesushi one last glance, remembering the shenanigans that his ‘pals’ got into. How they got lectured by pops when things escalated into a food fight.

Now the place was practically deserted and Kurokawa didn’t even touch the food, all the while looking at him like he was a monster. It was a couple of actions that negated his history with them void. Friendship was so fragile…

There was once a time when Kurokawa took the sushi he placed on that counter claiming that it was the least he could do when she tutored him out of a failing grade. Now all the expressions that was in his hindsight were ones severe in nature- inspecting him thoroughly like all the times when they dismissively called him an idiot was nonexistent. Like he had done something he could never take back.

His pops looked at the sushi blade like it was rusting from the sheer smell itself, an iron tang in the air. Like he was wielding something dangerous, something sacred in how much power it possessed. He could understand it now a little.

Those ‘friends’ of Tsuna had blood in their hands from the countless times they pummeled him into the ground. It was like they tried to forge a bond stronger than that of family forcefully. When he saw Haru’s work, he thought that the crimson liquid that decorated the scene was all that taken from the brunette, expelled out of them. It was what they owed his pal for all those years- and a way to make sure they wouldn’t borrow any more from him.

Maybe in that outrageous fluid, there was tears and sweat that Tsuna cried or from the exertion to escape to safety. With such a blatant crime scene, even the teen who remained oblivious for a great deal of time from his mother’s death would be able to tell that his ‘friends’ left him behind. After all, no matter what they did before, Tsuna insisted on calling them ‘friends’- then would he never drop that term until they finally managed to do him in? Or maybe, even until his dying breath, he’d persist on using that term on them.

Maybe that was what Yamamoto was looking forward with their reunion- a bond so strong that regardless of what he did, Tsuna would open the door for him- waiting for his return.

_‘Would you love me more if I killed someone for you?’_

Then he turned his back towards the shop, walking away from the town of Namimori, like there was no turning back to the him in the past. When Gokudera opened the door to the shrine, there was nobody there.

“What? He’s gone?!”

Yamamoto stopped Gokudera from leaving him behind there to ‘search’ for Tsuna.

“…Hey, did you do this on purpose? The Namimori forest has little to no signal reception, so finding someone with a tracker here is nigh impossible.”

“You think I’ve hidden him from you?”

“Our plan for cooperation has ended and I’ve got a threat hanging over me. You’re thinking that I’ll be a nuisance from now on, aren’t you?”

“What nonsense.”

“But it works for you, doesn’t it? Lead me to where he is. Even if I’m a nuisance right now, I can play against you and create a bigger headache- you’ve already seen what I can do, right?”

If Gokudera tried to cut him off here, then what was the point of doing all that? His last claim was almost like a joke. Kurokawa’s frightened expression loomed in his mind. His connections could whittle away as they become more aware of who was behind the cases.

Like the bomber seemed to hear those thoughts of his, he simply pushed Yamamoto aside to ‘find’ Tsuna. The thread of reassurance that he was seeking seemed to be dangling out of his reach. It was like he was being cornered. Kurokawa could alert his pops anytime she felt mildly threatened, and then Yamamoto would be stranded on his island.

So he played one of the few hands he could a couple of days later. A lady called Bianchi came to Takesushi, spouting that she was looking for her brother when she was merrily drunk of the sake in the store. Thus, he told her graciously that her brother was tucked away in the Forest, a dragon hoarding his treasure.

* * *

It took two weeks from then for Gokudera to finally find Tsuna. He looked in the crevices of Namimori and then frantically searched if there were people who left the town. But there were no logs in the public transport and he realized that Reborn wouldn’t let Tsuna escape his grasp.

In a last and desperate attempt, he wandered the forest blindly, hoping to bump into Tsuna. It was a miracle that such a stupid idea worked, leaving a hostile Lambo from the Bovino famiglia in front of him. The brat blocked his view of Sawada Tsunayoshi, angrily shouting.

“You were the big meanie that locked Dame-Tsuna in that shrine, right?! Go Away!”

“What do you think you’re doing, you brat?! As if getting expelled from the Bovino famiglia wasn’t enough.”

“I’ve not been expelled, you stupid cow head! I’m here on a mission!”

“Then go do that! Why are you messing around?! If I tell the Bovinos what you’re up to, that’s exactly what’s going to happen to you.”

“Shut up. Shut up!” then, getting riled up by Gokudera’s words, Lambo took the 10-year bazooka from his afro and aimed it right at Gokudera. Tsuna, who couldn’t interrupt their rapid-fire exchange, opened his eyes wide in alarm before dashing in front of the weapon.

“Wait, Lambo-”

But it was too late and the shot was fired, much to the dismay of the party in question.

Tsuna braced himself for his untimely death, but a bright flash came by without any pain. When he tried opening his eyes, he found himself in a dark place that reeked with a particular smell. He tried moving around but discovered that the place was crammed and maybe it was really crowded, feeling hands around his every body part. He was in a lying position, but with that many hands around him, he wondered if he was in a heap. He shivered at that thought and frantically banged at the ceiling to escape from that situation.

A couple of thuds later, the ceiling gave away with a harsh creak, leaking sunlight into the place. A man with a striking resemblance to Gokudera peered in, his face in extremely close proximity with his own. There was a madness in his expression that made Tsuna look away from him immediately. With that turn, he was forced to face what he was being buried with- hands. Disembodied arms. So many of them.

He shrieked and backed away, knocking his head against the coffin’s back. Seeing Gokudera reach towards him did not help in any way.

“Tsuna-sama! Please calm down. I’ll explain everything.” The man said with an unnatural gleam in his eyes as they drunk in his very sight. Wedged in a rock and a hard place, Tsuna could only listen to the other’s words.

“We have caught each and every one of them that pointed a gun at you in your last ‘meeting’ with _Byakuran_ and sliced those audacious hands that even dared to do such a thing to you.”

The man said that with the voice of a sinner begging for penitence. Tsuna tried to lean away from the zealous tone of his voice, the rotting fingers brushing horrifyingly against his hair. But the tight grip the silverette had on his arms left him rooted on the spot, a bruising grip leaving marks on his skin.

“W-Why would you do something like that?!”

Gokudera looked at him like he simply couldn’t comprehend why he was refusing his offering, his eyes seeing someone else in him- an older version of him- a version of him that was riddled with bullets. Those fingers brushed against his spine and he couldn’t help but scream.

“Leave me! Let me go! Help!”

" _Tsuna-sama, I'm so glad to see you again- even if it's the you from ten years ago._ "

Then man brought him into a bone-crushing hug, but if he pushed him aside, he would only fall amongst those hands that once held a gun against his future body. The coffin’s inside was spick and span, like someone had been regularly maintaining it, and with horror, Tsuna realized that it was the man in front of him. There was a smell of formalin in his fingers and the other might have been preserving him to outlast all those that have turned against him.

Gokudera’s fingers felt like they were crawling over Tsuna and he felt himself getting light-headed as it became difficult to breathe. The bed of hands under him was ready to ‘comfort’ him. In the lighting of the room, he could see the exposed flesh, the maggots crawling out of the nails, and even the bones under the flesh. No matter how much air he sucked in, it couldn’t provide even the smallest comfort to him.

With that the ten minutes was up and he found himself back to the forest, facing Gokudera. He let out a shrill shriek as he backed away from him.

“ _Tsuna…?_ ”

“Stay away from me! Don’t come closer!”

“No. No. No. Please! Tsuna! _Reconsider! I’ll do anything!_ ” The teen reached a trembling hand towards the other as he begged.

“ _Anything?!_ Why don’t you cut that hand then?! You can’t, can you?!”

After all, the silverette had rejected his previous request, leaving in that shrine. He left him behind and rendered into a more useless Dame-Tsuna, when he finally saw that he had the power to become a ‘hero’. He asked for many things in his life, but it always told him that he was arrogant to even think that his wishes could pollute the air.

Then without hesitation, the Hayato reached for a dagger in his coat and he plunged the knife from a height on his tendons. He dug the knife deep into the muscles, his desperation winning over the pain that seared his body, his every nerve on fire with the assault.

A lady’s voice erupted as Gokudera mutilated his arm, making Tsuna turn with a horrified look at their visitor. Hot pink hair fell all over her face, utterly unkempt and disgraceful.

“Bianchi-nee…” the silverette said as his arm fell to the ground with a sickening plop. Tsuna fell on his knees as Lambo inched closer towards him with a shotgun on his hand this time. The brunette looked at her face after noticing the look on Gokudera’s face. The 20 minutes carousel-led in circles in his head, warping and twisting, amplifying in focus. He took the gun from Lambo like he was possessed and took a shot right at ‘Bianchi’s’ forehead.

The lady fell backwards like a marionette without strings. He looked back at the teen who said he could do anything for him. _Would he forgive him for doing this too?_

Lambo’s tiny hands dug into his skin as the child pressed into him, no doubt, terrified of his actions. Gokudera looked at Tsuna with an utterly blank look as he fell onto his knees, his posture in utter servitude. It was the same look, same body language as the man in the future.

It was what he didn’t want from the other. It was how the man from the future looked like he couldn’t leave him, even after Tsuna was dead- like he simply couldn’t go on without him.

What Tsuna didn’t understand was that if Gokudera couldn’t forgive him for this action, the person he saw crying for his mother inside of Tsuna would be missing. In fact, the _him_ remaining in Bianchi who did the same would be gone. His past was gone with Bianchi’s death and what he wanted to protect, now existed only within Tsuna.

After all, Tsuna said that he wouldn’t tell him to go away if he did _anything_ for the other. If he accepted Tsuna’s shooting Bianchi, then he wouldn’t have to leave. Even if he left, there was _nothing_ left for him anymore.

A little distance from them, Reborn looked at the scene with his hands gripped. What was there in the future that forced Tsuna to act like that.

The obsession Tsuna saw in Gokudera’s eyes in the future terrified him. It was like seeing a version of him far more corrupted than he had been from his mother’s death. All that happened in just ten minutes- if _that_ was just the scratch on the surface, he shuddered to think just what happened in the span of ten years.

Tears spilt from Gokudera’s eyes as he refused to look at his sister’s corpse and the guilt that suddenly fell on Tsuna’s shoulders was overwhelming in its weight. Just how could he make up for _this?_ He crawled towards the arm and hugged it while sobbing. It was an impulse that took over him and with the shroud that cleared away, he could understand the relationship that two had and what exactly was he forcing Gokudera to accept.

The hand was limp on his arms. Now, even in the most improbable situation, Gokudera couldn’t curl his hands out of wrath and choke his life away. The teen faced him, with blood pouring freely from his socket and finally fell on Tsuna’s lap. The fallen figure was utterly dependent on him in a gesture of a trust fall.

Tsuna simply sat there weeping, his desolate cries lost in the woods as Lambo hid his trembling figure upon his frame. Reborn took his fedora off to pay his respects, closing his eyes in slight resignation.


End file.
